Third mail ballot drop box added

Will be in place in time for primary election

BERKS COUNTY

Berks County will add a third drop box for mail ballots for the upcoming election.

The county elections board unanimously voted Thursday, Jan. 4, to approve installing a ballot drop box at the county’s South Campus in Mohnton in time for the April primary.

The county has two drop boxes available to voters wanting to hand deliver their mail ballot in the weeks leading up to an election: one in the lobby of the Berks County Services Center in downtown Reading and another in the lobby of the Berks County Agriculture Center in Bern Township.

Those drop boxes are secured by deputies from the sheriff’s department and are monitored by security cameras. Workers in the election services department collect the ballots at the end of each day and seal the boxes when the centers are closed.

Board members said the same procedures will be followed at the South Campus site.

The consideration of adding a drop box at the South Campus was first discussed by election officials in 2022. At that time, the board said the decision would be contingent on the election department having a functioning satellite office at the Mohnton facility. That did not happen by that year’s general election.

Now the situation has changed.

Board members said Thursday that the campus is now operational and prepared to host a drop box with the proper security measures in place.

Commissioners Chairman Christian Leinbach said he has complete confidence in the reliability and security of the drop box system the county has in place, adding that having a third drop box will benefit mail ballot voters during a presidential election cycle when voter turnout is typically high.

“The reason I’m supporting this for 2024 is because of the sheer number of mail ballots that we received in the last presidential election,” he told his colleagues. “In (the 2020) general election, we received around 81,000 mail ballots.”

Because of that, he noted, he would also be willing to consider opening a fourth drop box for the general election at Reading Regional Airport.

Commissioner Dante Santoni Jr. said he was happy to support the addition of a drop box to increase accessibility for all voters.

“I think it’s important that we give as much access as we can to voters, especially for those who live in our more rural communities,” he said. “I’m more than willing to work with my fellow commissioners to get this done and possibly add more in the future.”

Despite approving the additional drop box, Leinbach pointed out that drop boxes are just one issue where guidance from the state is still needed.

“I want to once again encourage the leadership in the Legislature and the governor to get together on serious election reform,” he said. “Virtually nothing has happened since the 2020 election when it comes to reform. Counties are getting beat up constantly by individuals who believe the county has more authority than it actually does.”

Commissioner Michael Rivera, who was elected Thursday by his colleagues to serve as chairman of the elections board, said county officials have been calling on state legislators to listen to them.

While dozens of bills have been introduced in Harrisburg to address all kinds of election issues, the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania has called for legislators to focus on two areas: giving counties additional time to process mail ballots and moving back the deadline for mail ballot applications to 15 days before to an election.

Having served in the Legislature for 20 years before being elected to the board of commissioners, Santoni said, he will use the connections he has in Harrisburg to advocate for these changes.

“I agree we need more standard rules, and I plan on doing whatever I can to move toward that end,” he