Maryland elections officials address ballot drop box security

Safety questions follow ballot drop off boxes in Maryland

Ballot drop off boxes have been steadily rolling into Maryland.

POTOMAC, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Ballot drop off boxes have been steadily rolling into Maryland. The most will be popping up within Montgomery County. There are currently 24 boxes installed with a total of 50 to be placed throughout the county.

The question is, how safe is your ballot once it’s in those boxes?

County and state officials told FOX 5’s Ayesha Khan, voters can rest assured that their ballot is very secure.

Gilberto Zelaya, vice president of the county board of elections explained, the drop-off boxes are under 24-hour video surveillance while the board works with local police to help guard against vandalism or tampering. They are also physically locked.

We also asked Zelaya a follow-up question about a ballot potentially getting lost in case someone attempts to tamper with the box.

He said voters can vote a provisional ballot in person which will be researched and investigated to ensure that a second ballot is not returned.

Zelaya also said that the board has standard operating procedures in place to contact the affected voter which includes missing signatures on return envelopes, missing ballots or voter error.

Zelaya also drove home the point that voters should fill out their ballot with a blue or black pen and not a marker.

He went on to say that the election board has received permission to start tabulating mailed in or dropbox ballots on Oct. 6.

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