Scott McDonell on Using Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes in 2024

Frederica Freyberg:
A week ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a near-total ban on the use of absentee ballot drop boxes enacted in 2022 after conspiracy claims of election fraud. In the 2020 election, Milwaukee and Madison made the widest use of drop boxes. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell calls them a commonsense tool. He joins us now and I see we caught you on vacation. So thanks a lot for being here.

Scott McDonell:
My pleasure:

Frederica Freyberg:
So how many drop boxes do you expect to be in use in Dane County for this cycle?

Scott McDonell:
It’s hard to say. I would say most municipalities will have a drop box if not all of them. Some of them took them out during the last cycle. They were concerned that voters would try to use them when if they did, then their ballot wouldn’t count. But I know all of the larger municipalities will be reinstituting them.

Frederica Freyberg:
What do you think about guidance around security that the Wisconsin Elections Commission offered late this week?

Scott McDonell:
Yeah, I think those are the best practices you see around the country. You know, making sure that the drop boxes are secure to the ground, well lit, you know, that there’s a chain of custody. All the sort of best practices you see around the country were in that and I think they were appropriate.

Scott McDonell:
Why do you like the use of drop boxes?

Scott McDonell:
Well, they’re particularly important in the last week of the election, the last 3 or 4 days. The U.S. mail is not as reliable as it used to be. For us in Madison, the mail used to be processed locally. Now it goes to Milwaukee and back. So there’s concern that the ballot will arrive late. If it does, it’s not counted. Other states, if it’s postmarked, they’ll count it. But in Wisconsin, they won’t. So the drop box really helpful those last few days to make sure they get received on time.

Frederica Freyberg:
What do you say to people who still oppose them that they’re worried about fraud?

Scott McDonell:
I really don’t understand that. I mean, we’ve been using absentee voting since the Civil War. The U.S. mailboxes are less secure than a drop box, say, in Madison. The Madison ones are in front of a fire department with 24/7 personnel there, a camera. That’s not true for the mailbox in front of my house. So it doesn’t really make a lot of sense, honestly.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you expect threats against election workers to ramp up as we move into the August primary and the November general?

Scott McDonell:
Yeah, we are seeing some of that already. We’re getting a lot of open records requests, which is not a threat in and of itself but they tend to be just sort of harassing clerks. We saw a little bit of it in the Milwaukee special election where there was disruption at the polling place. So unfortunately, I think you know, I don’t expect it to be widespread but I think it’s going to be part of our world this cycle at least.

Frederica Freyberg:
As to those election observers, do you have provisions in place to manage should there be kind of legions of people coming out?

Scott McDonell:
Yeah, we do have procedures. There are very limited reasons why you can object to an absentee ballot at the polls or a ballot or a voter in general so we just need to do a little education with the clerks and I’m hopeful that it won’t be a big problem.

Frederica Freyberg:
And how busy are clerks right about now?

Scott McDonell:
This is going to be a busy few months here. Absentee ballots are out. There’s training going on for poll workers. There’s a lot going on right now. We have a training next week. We have — one of the things that’s different now, Frederica, is how much training we do for potential problems. Things like fentanyl in the mail or swatting where people are, you know, having 911 called on their house or — so unlikely as they are, it’s something we have to prepare for.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. Scott McDonell. We wish you well as you enter into this election cycle.

Scott McDonell:
Thank you. I’m taking my vacation days where I can.