Another Lansing Ballot DropBox has been found unlocked.  This Time at City Hall!  Lansing TV Station WILX reported Thursday that the ballot drop box at Lansing City Hall was found to be unlocked. It was reported to city authorities at 1:35 p.m. after being emptied at 10:45 a.m. That’s a nearly 3-hour window in which ballots deposited may not have been secure.

The news comes after Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson threatened the Michigan Republican Party with an investigation after the party reported that another ballot drop box in the city also had locking issues. A statement later proven to be true by the Lansing State Journal.

“Ballot security is no laughing matter but clearly the ballot drop box situation in Michigan has become a circus,” said Laura Cox, Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. Cox continued, “Michiganders need to know their ballots are safe and secure. Despite assurances from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, I think these instances are cause for concern. Instead of playing partisan games and trying to sweep these failures under the rug, it’s time for Jocelyn Benson to do her job and implement policies that will ensure the integrity of our elections.”ichigan Mich

WILX reported that Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope acknowledged the problem on Thursday.

“I am very disappointed to have an issue with our election drop box,” said Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope. “I am appreciative that the individual who was testing the security of the drop box at Lansing City Hall called the office today, so that we could immediately respond and secure the ballots and drop box.”

The office is taking additional steps to make sure the ballot drop boxes are secured.

  • Replace their current courier and have either two staff people traveling together or a security company to collect each dropbox daily.
  • Installation of a monitor, which will live stream all security cameras on a monitor so that they can be observed while staff is working.
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