Wisc. Elections Commissioner on a Big Drop in Number of Drop Boxes: ‘Entirely Due to Conspiracy Theories’

JANSING: “I wonder what you are watching for today now that early in-person voting has started.”
JACOBS: “Thank you so much for having me. We are watching to see whether or not we’re going to have smooth early voting here in Wisconsin or whether or not there are going to be challenges at the polls to our voters. So far, it’s been quiet. I hope it stays that way.”
JANSING: “Your state elections commission lists 107 drop boxes in use throughout the state right now. There were 500 during the 2020 election. Now, obviously, that was a Covid year, but it still seems like a big drop. What has happened between then and now? And is this big drop tied to challenges brought on by some of these conspiracy theories?”
JACOBS: “To my opinion, it’s entirely due to conspiracy theories. There was a movie that was made that claimed that drop boxes were being surreptitiously used to stuff the ballots. It was completely false. Unfortunately, what that meant was a lot of communities decided they didn’t want to have drop boxes. I suspect there’s more than 107. We don’t require clerks to notify us if they’re using drop boxes. But that being said, they’re the best way to get an absentee ballot back to a clerk, so it’s disappointing that communities are choosing not to use them.”