The ballot box costume that caused confusion this week in Bristol Borough Hall was not part of a nefarious plot, according to county election and law enforcement officials.
The box was located Wednesday and “immediately” removed from Bristol Borough Hall, which is an actual election mail-in ballot drop box location, county election officials said.
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The officials said six voters placed their completed mail-in ballots in the costume, which was designed to resemble a drop box but was made of cardboard and had holes for someone’s head and arms. It featured messages of “coming soon” and “Mail-In Ballot Drop Box.”
A photo of the costume was released to the media by county officials:
Credit: County of Bucks
The mock drop box costume was one of the cardboard ones worn by members of the Bucks Voices voter access group who delivered a petition to county officials in summer calling for more drop boxes.
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On Friday afternoon, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub released a statement on the incident, which his office was referred by county election officials:
On Tuesday afternoon I was contacted by concerned citizens about the existence of a mock ballot drop box that was placed in Bristol Borough Hall, and which had accumulated six apparent absentee votes which were deposited inside of it. That box and those miscast votes have since been confiscated by the Board of Elections.
After consulting with the Chair of the Board of Elections, and after consideration of the facts, I have concluded at this time that the person responsible for placing the mock ballot drop box did not intend to commit election fraud by their actions and was not acting at the direction of any governmental agency or official to commit election fraud. Nevertheless, at least six voters were misled into depositing their votes into this mock drop box by that person’s misguided actions.
These concerned citizens were right to contact me as District Attorney, as well as to contact the Board of Elections. While I hope and expect that our upcoming election will be free from fraud, we must all be vigilant to protect the integrity of our elections. If anyone suspects or has any information regarding fraud in this current election, please contact the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office at 215-348-6344, or on the web at Bucksda.org.
After looking into the matter, the Bucks County Board of Elections did not find that the box was part of a plot to do anything purposely improper, county spokesperson James O’Malley said.
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“Upon learning that the person responsible for placing the mock drop box was slated to work as a per diem, temporary employee for the Board of Elections, the county released the person from employment. At the time the person placed the box, the person was not yet a county employee,” officials said.
Credit: County of Bucks
Bristol Borough Hall has been named an official drop box location that is monitored by staff and a camera.
The county said they verified that no other mock drop boxes were placed at any other of the 10 mail-in ballot deposit locations.
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The incident does not appeared tied to borough government officials, sources said.
Democratic sources involved in Lower Bucks County politics said the box debacle has only caused headaches, spurring on some who already are suspicious of mail-in voting.
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One Democrat called it a “stupid nightmare” that shouldn’t have happened – both from the perspective of someone placing the box and voters dropping ballots into the costume.
Bucks County’s drop boxes feature the American flag and read: “Bucks County Official Ballot Drop Box.”
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Learn more on voting in the 2022 election by clicking here.
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