In September, the mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin — equipped with a hard hat and work gloves — rolled away the lone drop box outside of City Hall. The mayor claims his actions were in good faith, and that he is simply “hoping for a good result,” according to CNN.

Residents of Wausau, however, were not happy with Mayor Doug Diny. The removal of the drop box sparked anger and culminated in a protest less than a week later, according to CNN.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, drop boxes were a saving grace by allowing absentee voters to participate in the democratic process remotely. But, they have gradually become a controversial topic throughout the country.

Divisions over whether drop boxes are a secure voting method reached the national level when former President Donald Trump began attacking drop boxes during the 2020 election. In a post on X, the former president called drop boxes “a big fraud” and cast doubt upon “who controls them,” according to CBS News.

If the “public interest notice” X placed on the post to tag it for misleading information was not enough, an abundance of evidence quickly denies the idea that drop boxes violate the integrity of our elections.

Voter fraud via drop box is less likely than being struck by lightning, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice. Rather than baselessly attacking drop boxes, it is important to turn our heads to the great benefits they provide. Drop boxes resolve issues associated with mail-in ballots by ensuring that votes do not get lost in the mail and reach election offices in time for counting, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Moreover, studies show that implementing drop boxes increases voter turnout for working-class and minority individuals who must prioritize their irregular work schedules over casting their ballots, according to Stateline. The City of Madison announced its 2024 drop boxes will also create accessibility for voters in rural areas and voters with disabilities.

As a long-standing method of voter participation, the benefits of voting drop boxes clearly seem to outweigh the imagined risks.

In fact, drop boxes had safely been in use for decades before Republicans cast doubt on their integrity at a convenient time — the 2020 presidential election. This election saw an unprecedented surge in absentee voters due to the restrictions the COVID-19 pandemic brought upon in-person voting. To be exact, over 40% of American voters utilized absentee ballots in 2020, according to PBS Wisconsin.

Yet even in 2020, when states like Oregon sent out over 100 million absentee ballots, proven fraud occurred at a negligible rate, according to the Brennan Center. So why is it that Republicans are still so adamant about the removal of voter drop boxes?

It seems as though Republican officials are not so occupied with the integrity of absentee ballots, but rather fearful that drop boxes might increase voter participation for citizens unlikely to vote for the GOP.

Indeed, experts told Stateline that the removal of drop boxes will have the greatest negative effect on working-class voters, Black voters, and voters that are affiliated with the Democratic Party. Republicans likely aimed to reduce voter turnout for the Democratic Party by restricting drop boxes.

This is even more evident when looking to California, where Republican officials installed dozens of unofficial drop boxes around areas such as churches in 2020, according to CNN.

This hypocritical behavior went completely against the impassioned war Republicans throughout the nation had been waging against absentee ballots. It is simply appalling that the same party that put extensive doubt on the safety and non-partisan nature of absentee voting bypassed every legal safeguard to instill illegal drop boxes. There is little doubt that such actions were taken only to promote Republican voter turnout in areas the GOP deemed necessary.

It is completely unethical and an utter violation of democracy for political parties to cast undue doubt upon the democratic process in exchange for personal gain. Faith between constituents and their officials is sacred, and to create doubt upon the bipartisan election process is to assault the very foundation of our nation.

There is no evidence that drop boxes are a threat to the integrity of our voting process. It is the unauthorized removal of the drop box by Mayor Diny that countered government policy. Republicans simply cannot roll away or park drop boxes whenever and wherever they choose.

It is time to set party politics aside and focus on extending civic rights to all American citizens, regardless of their political association. By undermining government policy regarding drop boxes, Republicans are unearthing the roots of the American government.

Aanika Parikh ([email protected]) is a junior studying molecular and cell biology and health policy.