Residents urge Montgomery County to move mail‑in ballot drop boxes indoors
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Summary
During public comment at the Abington meeting, multiple residents called on the county to relocate mail‑in ballot drop boxes to staffed indoor municipal buildings, citing camera monitoring limits and isolated outdoor locations that raise security concerns; commissioners said they would consider moving boxes and reintroducing monitoring.
Multiple Montgomery County residents used the public-comment period on Feb. 19 to urge the county to place mail‑in ballot drop boxes inside staffed municipal or library buildings rather than in unmonitored outdoor locations.
Liz Ferry, representing the Montgomery County Public Utilities Committee, said the county currently operates 18 drop boxes and noted several are in isolated or dimly lit outdoor locations. "Moving these boxes to indoor locations is easy to do, and municipalities would welcome it," she said, and cited neighboring counties that locate boxes in government buildings. Ferry also pointed to a local prosecution involving someone filmed placing multiple ballots in a box during early morning hours as an example of the security risk she described.
Commissioners acknowledged the concerns. One commissioner said neighboring counties have indoor, staffed drop boxes and suggested the county has sufficient facilities to relocate boxes into secure building locations; the board also said it would reconsider monitoring and hours of availability to reduce late-night use. The county clerk and election staff were asked to review specific drop-box locations and report options for relocating or securing them ahead of the next election.
