ACLU of Georgia and All Voting Is Local, Georgia Urge Sec of State, State Election Board to Adopt a Commonsense Drop box Strategy for August and November Elections
ATLANTA – Today, the ACLU of Georgia and All Voting Is Local, Georgia, along with 23 community organizations sent a letter to the Secretary of State and State Election Board urging them to mandate and fund a four-pronged commonsense strategy for placing drop boxes in all 159 counties. The emergence of COVID-19 added to the decline in in-person voting sites since 2013 make drop boxes vital to ensure that all Georgia citizens can be safe as they exercise their sacred right to vote.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said, “Setting up ballot drop boxes and educating voters to use them mitigates a number of COVID-19-related risks associated with in-person voting. It also minimizes the number of people that will need to access voting locations, thereby providing more space for those who are engaged in in-person voting.”
To reduce long lines on Election Day and help keep voters safer during the pandemic, the ACLU of Georgia, All Voting Is Local, Georgia, and the 23 community organizations urge the Secretary of State to implement a four-part commonsense strategy.
- increase the number of drop boxes located in each county
- adopt mandatory standards
- publish clear education materials notifying voters of drop box locations
- recruit and train absentee ballot processors including developing standardize instructions for absentee ballot processing
“Election drop boxes allow voters to securely place their ballots in a ballot box at a time of their convenience. I used a drop box in front of the Auburn Avenue Research Library to cast my primary ballot. This must be an option for all Georgians to safely exercise their sacred right to vote,” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia.
“Absentee voting is a safe, secure, and effective way for Georgians to vote” said Aklima Khondoker, state director of All Voting Is Local, Georgia. “The government should never require any citizen to play roulette with their health in order to vote—it must always be safe and available. Make our elections safe and available for Georgians and mandate drop boxes in all counties.”
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