McHenry County should offer more drop boxes for mail-in ballots, some County Board members say

While Lake County will have drop boxes for mail-in ballots at each of its early voting locations, the McHenry County clerk said the county does not have the financial or human resources to accommodate more than one drop box, frustrating board members who want more accessibility.

Beyond the resources needed, McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio said that installing smaller drop boxes at early voting locations poses a security concern that he does not feel comfortable with.

County Board member Kelli Wegener pushed back against Tirio’s concerns during Tuesday’s board meeting, saying that if other counties can afford to offer more collection sites that follow state security requirements, it should be safe and feasible for McHenry County to do so, as well.

“I appreciate Mr. Tirio’s concern and I respect his opinion,” Wegener said. “I just see what our county is doing versus those other counties, and I don’t see why we can’t set the same standard as them. I don’t know why one county feels it’s safe and one does not.”

Only for this November's election, election authorities can provide ballot collection sites or "drop boxes" as a way for voters to return vote-by-mail ballots without having to use postage or wait for their ballot to be delivered.

These collection sites must meet a specific set of security protocols in order to be implemented, according to statutory requirements released by the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Illinois counties should have a minimum of one ballot drop box each, but “best practice” would be to have a collection site for every 15,000 to 20,000 voters, according to the state board of elections.

This would mean that McHenry County should have at least 15 ballot drop boxes distributed across the county based on its population of more than 300,000.

Currently, McHenry County has one ballot drop box outside of the county administration building in Woodstock, which Tirio said was a costly endeavor because he made sure it included all of the available security features. The box is constructed of thick stainless steel and is anchored into a large cement pad with cement barriers on two sides of the box, making it as secure as most ATMs, he said.

Lake County has invested in four of these larger, stand-alone drop boxes, which are placed outside and offer voters 24-hour access to deposit their ballot, Deputy Clerk Tom Govain said in an interview Wednesday.

Govain agreed that they were a costly purchase – $3,061 apiece, to be exact – but said the clerk’s office decided it was worth the investment to make voting more convenient and accessible in these unprecedented times.

The Lake County Clerk’s Office also decided to buy 20 smaller drop boxes to be installed at each of the county’s 16 or so early voting locations, Govain said.

The state board of election’s requirements for these smaller collection sites are slightly less stringent as they can only be placed indoors in an early voting site or other locations where staff are available to monitor the use of the box. These drop boxes must be emptied regularly, with all ballots delivered to the clerk’s office at the end of the day.

Indoor drop boxes must be made of rigid material, locked with a padlock and securely fastened to the wall or floor to prevent removal of the box, according to the state board of elections.

These differences make indoor drop boxes considerably more affordable and just as safe, Govain said. Each box cost the county $209, an expense which is reimbursable through federal CARES Act funding, he said.

The cost of offering more collection sites goes beyond the boxes themselves as election judges would need to be paid to deliver any mail-in ballots to the clerk’s office at the end of each shift, Tirio said.

Even if McHenry County can technically afford it, he said he does not feel it is worth the “added risk,” given that voters can drop their ballots in their mail boxes, at local post offices or at the county’s main drop box in Woodstock.

Tirio said he has not found any indoor ballot drop boxes that meet his standards of security, which he said is higher than the Illinois State Board of Elections. The fact that neighboring counties have determined that indoor collection sites are safe won’t change his mind, he said.

“In the end, it won’t be well [Tirio] did it and he did it because everybody else did it and thought it was a good idea,” Tirio said of the repercussions of hypothetical voter fraud. “It’ll be [Tirio] did it and it went wrong and it was [Tirio’s] choice.”

Wegener disagreed, expressing concerns about voter accessibility on behalf of the county’s elderly and immunocompromised residents or anyone who might feel uncomfortable or unsafe voting in person during a pandemic.

On top of safety concerns, the recent rhetoric around the U.S. Postal Service has left many of her constituents feeling uneasy about vote-by-mail, Wegener said in an interview Wednesday.

“The slowdown of the post office seems to be deliberate, and because of the news, there’s many constituents who have reached out to me who are concerned about their ballot arriving on time,” she said.

For this reason, she said she would like to see more drop boxes bought using CARES Act funds, but that, ultimately, she will trust Tirio’s judgment.

Board members Paula Yensen and Suzanne Ness echoed Wegener in calling for more collection sites during Tuesday’s board meeting.

In response, District 4 board member Chuck Wheeler said that voters already have enough options to cast their vote in November. He said that voting is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly, adding that residents “have to exercise our right [to vote] or it will be taken away from you.”

For anyone who feels uncomfortable voting in person on Election Day or during early voting, Tirio recommends applying for a mail-in ballot and, if voters decide not to mail in the ballot or drop it off at the county's collection site, they can also choose to surrender the ballot at any of the county's early voting sites and vote in person instead. That way, voters have multiple options based on their comfort level and how crowded early voting sites are, he said.

The county clerk’s office also will give voters the option to track their ballots once they have placed them in the mail to ensure that they arrive on time, Tirio said.