County evaluates logistics for upcoming election
Lake County Election Administrator Katie Harding has been evaluating the public safety requirements and other impacts the COVID-19 pandemic would pose if regular in-person voting is conducted for the November federal election. She will present her findings and recommendations for the Lake County Commissioners as they consider whether to conduct the Nov. 3 general election by mail.
Harding says if the mail-in option is chosen by the commissioners, this election would be “like any of the other mail-ballot elections that we would do.”
“We just did the county-wide jail levy, and then we did the school bond last December. It would look exactly like those did. But you would have an extra five days to return the ballots. In non-federal elections, we send the ballots out twenty days before election day. For federal elections we send them out 25 days before.”
New difficulties and expenses would arise for implementing in-person voting.
For starters, says Harding, a total of 104 poll workers are needed to conduct in-person voting at polling sites throughout the county; currently, there are 64. Six of the 11 chief judges have pulled out of the job, citing concerns over exposure to COVID-19.
“Most election workers are 65 or older,” says Harding, and their age puts them in one of the highest risk categories for serious effects from the virus.
At least two established polling places, one school and one alternate location, are no longer available because there is no way to safely separate voters from those already using the building. Harding says more judges and buildings could become unavailable as the election approaches.
Each polling site would need an additional worker to continuously clean and sanitize pens, booths, seats, tables, bathrooms, doorknobs, and so on.
Plexiglass barriers would need to be purchased and installed for poll workers, and each voter would need sanitizing supplies.
There are concerns that masks may make it difficult for both voters and poll workers with hearing impairment to hear communications.
Many processes would become expensive, slow, cumbersome, or even impossible with the distancing requirements instituted.
For example, voters sign in on a paper list, and ballots are protected by a paper secrecy folder, neither of which can be sanitized. Voters would need to maintain distance, so lines would be expected to reach outdoors in the cold of November. At many sites, voters have only one entrance/exit, so they must pass each other closely rather than continue out another door. Even for those with two doors, only one is usually handicapped accessible.
Poll workers normally sit close to each other to properly check and log in voters’ I.D.s. Two unrelated people typically drive in the same vehicle to transport ballots, which would not allow proper distancing. When the boxes of ballots are delivered, there is not the space inside the courthouse to keep all workers six feet apart.
If the mail-in option is chosen, it will “look like the primary did,” says Harding. “If you are an active, registered voter, and we’ve got your right mailing address, it will go straight to you. If your ballot goes out and it is undeliverable, we will send out a forwardable notice telling you we have your ballot in the office.” Voters may vote one time using an old address if they have not yet updated their voter registration. Voters can call in to change their address at 883-7268
Certain ballot issues are only voted in limited areas, such as local tax levies, so current address information is important. Those without a permanent address may register using the location they are currently staying or even a physical location if they are homeless or camped out.
Ballots are due in the Elections office by 8 p.m. election day, November 3. Voters may drop their ballot off at the office if they find there may no longer be enough time to mail it in.