The percentage of voters using open-all-hours dropboxes to deposit their ballots increased somewhat from the March presidential primary elections to the June local/state primaries, according to new data.
Either 4 percent of voters or 5.5 percent of them used dropboxes for the June 18 primary, depending on how you do the math:
• A total of 890 voters (out of 22,759) cast ballots at the nine 24/7 dropboxes that were made available once early ballots were mailed out to those who had requested them. That equates to the 4-percent figure.
• Adding in the 77 voters who deposited their mailed-to-them ballots in dropboxes at early-voting sites and 276 who used dropboxes at their home precincts on Election Day, the figure rises to 1,243 and the percentage grows to 5.5 percent.
By comparison, turnout for the March Democratic and Republican presidential primaries was about 3.3 percent.
Having nine 24/7 dropboxes scattered across the county for use in the roughly 43-day window before Election Day has been a bone of contention for some Republicans, who have tried to have the number reduced. In January, the Electoral Board – composed of two Republicans and one Democrat – agreed to maintain that number through the presidential election, then revisit it in 2025.
In the June election, an Arlington voter could cast a ballot in the Democratic primary for County Board or the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, but not both. Given Arlington’s political proclivities, turnout was predictably lopsided: 20,338 participated in the Democratic contest, 2,421 in the Republican.
