WASHINGTON — A photo of an open ballot box in D.C.'s Navy Yard neighborhood has fueled criticisms about election security.
The image was posted on Tuesday by Republican members of the Committee on House Administration on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The committee is in part charged with the oversight of federal elections.
The post shows a ballot box cracked open with two locks on the ground, with a caption referencing election security.
The DC GOP reposted the photo and pointed out that the ballot box is the one located in front of the D.C. Board of Elections Office in Southeast D.C.
"If they can't monitor the drop box in front of their office, how can we trust our elections are secure?" the DC Republican Party posted on their X account.
An X user responded to the original post, "For Pete's sake! Drop boxes like this promote election insecurity. Get rid of them."
The owner of X, Elon Musk, also reacted to the post with two exclamation points.
The D.C. Board of Elections (DCBOE) confirmed the photo telling WUSA9 that the incident happened on Monday.
DCBOE added in a statement:
"The picture circulating on social media was taken after DCBOE staff had removed the voted ballots for daily processing. No ballots were impacted. We became aware of the open box shortly after daily removal and immediately secured the box. Voting by Mail Ballot Drop Box remains safe and secure in the District of Columbia."
Thursday morning, the ballot box was locked and secured.
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