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Living in a town that straddles Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties can sometimes be a challenge for people living in Aromas, as resident Nancy Treffry, a member of the Anzar Hill Democratic Club, found out when she volunteered to help collect ballots on Election Day at the Monterey County polling station on Nov. 8, 2022.
“We had a lot of people who live in the San Benito part of town coming in to vote,” she said. “They were looking for their polling place or a dropbox for their ballots, but there wasn’t anything available for their county.”
Treffry took the problem back to her associates at the Anzar Hill Democratic Club and, after a lot of campaigning and work, a brand-new San Benito County ballot dropoff box was revealed at the Aromas Fire Station during a ribbon-cutting on Oct. 11.
“We wrote comments to the team at the county elections office,” she said. “We went to all the public hearings, putting our perspective out there. A hundred people voted on a poll we did on Nextdoor, and 98 of them voted ‘yes’ because they wanted that opportunity.”
The previous San Benito County polling station had been shut down, a victim of the pandemic closures. This left voters with few convenient or dependable options for casting their ballots, according to resident and club member Pat Lerman.
“The only way for us to vote directly was to go to San Juan Bautista,” she said. “That was the closest place to vote in person or use a drop-off center. Or we could drive into Hollister and vote there.”
Aromas is between 9.8 and 11.5 miles, depending on the route, away from the Windmill Market in San Juan Bautista, the next closest ballot drop-off location.
But with no public transportation between Aromas and San Juan, Lerman said, if you couldn’t drive, you couldn’t vote unless you mailed in your ballot, which she considers untrustworthy.
“After many rounds of discussion,” Lerman said, “the county offered us a mobile voting opportunity for one day the weekend before election day. We said, ‘No, that’s not going to work. People need more opportunities than that.’”
Lerman and Treffry credit Francisco Diaz, the county clerk-recorder/registrar of voters for San Benito County, and Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki for getting the project off the ground.
“The Elections Department was very receptive to the idea,” she said. “The biggest issue, I think, was the San Benito County budget—trying to determine where the funding would come from and what would be most effective.”
Local leaders on both sides of the political spectrum hailed the box as a means of encouraging voters by making it easier to participate in elections.
“The installation of a new ballot dropbox in Aromas is a significant stride in making voting more accessible for everyone,” said Leslie Austin, county chair of the San Benito County Democratic Central Committee. With a drop box, voters are in control. You’re not just sending off your vote and hoping it gets counted. You’re walking up to that box and ensuring your voice is heard.”
Rob Bernosky, chairman of the San Benito County Republican Party, said there were definite advantages to the dropoff box though he was in favor of a more formal process for voting.
“My first preference would be for in-person voting with ID,” he said. “That said, in balance, this causes more people to be able to vote by having a dropoff box, that’s in the plus column. And if it can save the county money by just having a dropoff box instead of having a staff, that’s in the plus column as well.”
Diaz said he encourages voters to use the ballot boxes in the upcoming elections with the assurance that their vote will be secure.
“I would remind everyone that we do have various measures in place,” Diaz said. “We’re going to have 24-hour video surveillance, for example, and we’re also fortunate to have the firefighters there on-site to ensure the safety of the box.”
Diaz said voters may contact his office with any questions regarding the process of collecting the ballots or any other aspect of election security. The Elections Department also offers a ride-along program where residents can ride with their team as they collect ballots to experience the various security practices firsthand.
In 2022, the Associated Press sought information from the top election offices in each state regarding whether dropoff boxes were tied to fraudulent votes, stolen or damaged ballots.
Of the 45 states that responded, none using dropoff boxes reported “any instances in which the boxes were connected to voter fraud or stolen ballots.” Nor did they report any incidents of damage “to the extent that election results would have been affected.”
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