Steven Potter:
So the August primary was the first time that ballot drop boxes have been used...

Paulina Gutiérrez
Yes.

Steven Potter:
...in about two years.

Paulina Gutiérrez
Mm-hmm.

Steven Potter:
How did that go?

Paulina Gutiérrez
It went really well. So we had been watching what was going to happen in courts, and started having conversations about, well, what does it mean to implement? And we were the largest city in the state of Wisconsin, and the decision came, I think, in the weekend of the 4th of July, or the week of the 4th of July, and we only had several weeks to get it together. We were able to get, I think, 13 drop boxes in operation. There was a couple that we couldn't at that moment, because of damage and whatnot, and we reached out to our public service partners here in the city of Milwaukee. The Department of Public Works has some really great, dedicated workers who we specially trained to become ballot courier teams. I mean, we've done it before, right? And we just dusted off our procedures, made sure that they were still legitimate, and processed them that way. So I have to say it was pretty successful, and like I said, the ability to offer another opportunity for voters to get their ballots to us in a secure way for those, like I said, working families, we're happy to do so.

Steven Potter:
What do you think the future holds for ballot drop boxes? Do you think they'll grow in popularity, or fade out? What do you expect?

Paulina Gutiérrez
I think it becomes just a general part of election administration. I mean, for the most part, we didn't hear about drop boxes until recently, because they were just part of the administration. So, I mean, I would hope that we continue to have them. I think they're helpful, again, to working families and those that have a hard time getting here. You know, if you think about it, like the city of Milwaukee Good Hope Library — it's about a 30-minute drive here to City Hall, and you imagine traffic. We have a drop box at Good Hope, so they can drop off their ballots nearby their home and feel confident that they're going to get it to us on Election Day. Because state law requires that ballots have to be to us by 8 p.m. in order to count, so that if they arrive late, they're not going to count. So, the drop box guarantees that they're going to get their ballot in on Election Day.