A steady stream of Baltimore County voters is going to ballot drop off boxes at locations from Arbutus to Hereford with their mail-in ballots in hand.

A breakdown shows that the ones being used the least are in traditionally Republican strongholds.

 As of last Friday, the least used ballot drop box in the county was in Dundalk with a little more than 1,000 ballots cast. According to the county elections board, a close second was the one in Middle River with 1,133 ballots. Both are reliably Republican areas of the county.

Compare that to politically purple Perry Hall, with more than 4,500 ballots cast.

Community College of Baltimore County political science professor John Dedie said the president has convinced a lot of Republicans not to use mail-in ballots.

But Dedie said President Trump’s contentions of fraud are having an opposite reaction.

“He’s energizing people to make sure they’re exercising their right. In many ways some of the things he has said could end up backfiring,” Dedie said.

The county ballot drop off box having the most traffic is the one at the board of elections office in Hunt Valley, with more than 8,500 ballots collected.

A Goucher Poll earlier this month found that Marylanders are evenly split over whether they plan to vote by mail or in person. But of those who do plan to vote at the polls either during early voting or on Election Day, 72% are Republican.

“They’re going to show up on Election Day, outside, six feet apart,” Dedie said.

Elections officials are concerned that precautions they will have to take for in-person voting will slow down the process.

Baltimore County currently has 13 ballot drop box locations. Another 30 will be made available later this week.

Ballot drop boxes statewide will remain open through Election Day.