It is recommended that there should be one ballot drop box for every 15,000 to 20,000 registered voters.

An official Alameda County Registrar of Voters drop-off ballot box stands outside the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland, Calif., on Oct. 14, 2020.

The official ballot drop boxes are a lot more secure than you think, and almost half of mail-in ballots are being collected this way. 24/7 Live Los Angeles Orange County Inland Empire Ventura ...

Richard Lamberson, of Montclair, drops off his ballot in the official ballot drop off box at the Montclair Civic Center in Montclair on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

With the nation still in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic, official ballot drop boxes have emerged as a popular option to accommodate the millions of new mail-in voters this year.

The County of Santa Barbara issued the following press release about the deployment of official ballot boxes ready to receive votes across the county until 8 p.m. Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.

The unstaffed, 24-hour ballot drop boxes should be made of durable material such as steel and permanently cemented into the ground, generally at a cost of about $6,000 each, the commission says.

The Registrar’s 29 official ballot drop boxes are open 24 hours a day up until 8 p.m. April 8. A county spokesperson, Tracy DeFore, said to return a ballot, ...