Santarsiero Bill Would Expand Ballot Drop Box Access

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — The state senator representing most of Bucks County has introduced a bill that would expand access to ballot drop boxes in future elections.

Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat, has filed what he's calling The Safe Drop Act. The bill would require Pennsylvania counties to provide at least one ballot drop box for every 20,000 residents.

It also would make the boxes available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from the beginning of mail-in voting until polls close on Election Day.

"When we make it easier to vote, more people participate in the process, strengthening our democracy," Santarsiero said. "The Safe Drop Act will help ensure all voters are able to return their ballot in a convenient and secure manner and that ballots will arrive to the Board of Elections in a timely fashion to be counted."

In the 2020 presidential election, millions of Pennsylvanians voted by mail or requested mail-in ballots and dropped them at drop boxes due to concerns about COVID-19.

It was the first presidential vote after the Republican-controlled legislature, in 2019, passed Act 77, which allowed for absentee voting by mail without requiring a reason. Counties provided drop boxes in 2020, though their numbers and hours varied from county to county.

"During both the primary and general elections last year, we saw huge interest in voting by mail," Santarsiero said. "With concerns about the capacity of the U.S. Postal Service to make sure ballots arrived in time to be counted, ballot drop boxes provided voters with peace of mind that their vote would be counted."

Santarsiero recently was appointed to the senate’s Special Committee on Election Integrity and Reform, which has been hearing testimony from election administrators.

The legislation comes as Republican lawmakers in other states are pushing laws that critics say are geared toward limiting ballot access, particularly in poor and minority communities. In Georgia, civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit after the legislature approved and governor signed a bill that would, among other things, limit drop box access, require photo ID for absentee ballots and ban volunteers from giving water and snacks to Georgians waiting in line to vote.