Behind The Poll:
Democrat push for ballot drop boxes boomerangs as key Georgia senator moves to outlaw them
In the summer before the contentious November 2020 election, the Democrats’ most influential election lawyer, Marc Elias, used the pandemic to urge liberal grassroots groups to press for the deployment of mass drop boxes to collect an expected wave of absentee ballots.
“Local libraries, church groups and civic associations should explore with local election officials setting up secure ballot drop boxes,” he wrote in an op-ed. “There may even be a role for businesses to play in preserving our right to vote through drop box placement and security.”
The Democrats prevailed, as all but 10 states allowed drop boxes. And key battlegrounds like Georgia deployed them widely, especially in large blue counties like Fulton and Dekalb, where as many as 25% to 50% of absentee voters used them, according to media analyses.
But now that movement is facing pushback from influential Georgia Republican state Sen. Butch Miller. He authored the state election integrity law passed in March that tightened the rules for, but did not eliminate, ballot drop boxes.
Now, Miller says, he believes the drop boxes are too ripe for abuse and should be eliminated, introducing Senate Bill 325 this month to change the election integrity law to eliminate the authority for drop boxes.
_ John Solomon
