The county plans to install a new ballot drop box in Montesano with drive-up access.

The drive-up drop box, similar to a mail drop box at the post office, will be installed on North First Street, near the courthouse.

In order to have enough room to accommodate the drive-up box, the county will eliminate two parking spots on North First Street.

The county already has a ballot drop box in Montesano, located in front of the county administration building, but County Auditor Vern Spatz said the box is damaged and security has been compromised.

“It’s not as secure as we’d like it. In the last couple of elections, we’re going out there frequently,” Spatz said.

A larger box also would help with the upcoming presidential election, Spatz noted.

“We’re worried that, especially this year with the presidential election, we might have to bring people in on the weekends, and it’s not as successful as I’d like it,” Spatz said.

Initially, the plan would have eliminated only one parking spot, but Commissioner Vickie Raines was concerned voters would block part of the crosswalk at First Street.

“The issue that we have is we need four feet on the sidewalk for wheelchairs or whatever might be using the side walk, and if we go down any further, we infringe on that four foot space, plus we don’t have enough room to get the cars to pull out,” interim facilities and utilities supervisor Mark Cox said. “We could put it down farther, but we would most likely lose two parking spots.”

Raines said she’d rather lose two parking spots than have people stopped on the crosswalk.

Commissioner Frank Gordon agreed.

“I’ve seen older people have a heck of a time, blocking traffic and getting out,” Gordon said. “This is really a win-win.”

The box and cement work to allow for vehicle access to it is expected to cost about $5,000.

Spatz said the county could see additional boxes in the distant future.

“There’s a huge push by different stakeholders for the counties to buy a lot more drop boxes and situate them around the counties,” Spatz said. “The last few years in the Legislature, there have been bills introduced, and it’s getting closer to the point where some of those are going to start happening.”

A similar push has been coming from the Elma City Council who in March this year asked why there wasn’t a drop box in Elma.

Currently, only Montesano and Hoquiam have ballot drop boxes (the box at Montesano in front of the county administration building, and at the YMCA in Hoquiam near the border with Aberdeen). In East County, McCleary and Oakville both have ballot drop sites.

Drop sites are manned by elections staff on election day. Elections staff are paid seasonal employees who oversee a site that accepts ballots. The staff then drives those ballots to the auditor’s office in Montesano to be counted on election night.

As he had in March, Spatz on Sept. 12, said he doesn’t see the need for a ballot drop box in Elma.

“This has been a reoccurring request by Elma to have either a drop site or a drop box,” Spatz said. “The initial cost is substantial — as you can see, it’s $5,000 — but the ongoing cost, once you establish a drop box, you have to have people that will periodically check it during the time of election. And then on election night, you’ve got to have a few people there to close it, secure it and bring any ballots in. We could do anything without (having to worry about) time and money, but if the board wanted to go that direction and is willing to incur those additional costs, whatever we can do to help the citizens.

“The decision of where to locate the drop boxes is an elections decision.”

Raines said she would prefer to rely on the auditor to determine the need.

Cox said “Too bad we couldn’t put them at post offices — they already have the infrastructure for drive-by mailing.”

“You’d have your PUD bills in the wrong box and the lights would be getting turned off all over town,” Gordon said.

Because so much damage was done to the current drop box in Montesano during a break-in attempt in May 2016, the box can’t be moved to the new location and a new box must be purchased, elections administrator Lori Ochmann told The Vidette.