Murphy signs bill allowing election boards to pick drop box placement

County election boards will be allowed to decide the placement of ballot drop boxes under a bill Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law Friday.

The measure allows county election boards to decide by simple majority vote the placement of secure ballot drop boxes in their county if placement requirements put two drop boxes within 2,000 feet of one another. In the case of a tie, the county clerk casts the deciding vote.

It requires each county erect at least 10 ballot drop boxes, with at least one box in each municipality with average per capita or median family incomes at or below 250% of the federal poverty line.

Drop boxes were used last year as a means of allowing voters to cast mail-in ballots without relying on an overburdened U.S. Postal Service,

The bill is a bid to prevent drop box clusters seen in some towns in last year’s elections. The rules used for those races required drop boxes be placed at specific sites, including county and municipal government buildings, community colleges and state universities.

In at least one case, that led to three drop boxes being installed within blocks of each other.

Assemblyman Bill Moen (D-Camden) was first prime sponsor in the lower chamber, while State Sen. Jim Beach (D-Voorhees) took that position in the upper chamber.

“It is not fair for some New Jersey residents to have to trek miles to drop their ballot off while other residents have multiple boxes to choose from within just blocks of each other,” Moen said. “Rather than spending taxpayer money on entirely new boxes, this law will permit county boards of elections to better allocate the resources they already have. Allowing them to determine better locations for boxes that are unnecessarily close together will help give more voters equal access to these secure receptacles.”

This article was updated with comment from Moen at 4:45 p.m.

Correction: This article initially said the bill allowed election boards to decide the placement of a ballot drop boxes but did not stipulate they could only do so when they would otherwise be placed within 2,000 feet on one another.