ORLANDO, Fla. — Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, supervisors of elections are trying to ensure voters are safe during the 2020 elections.
What You Need To Know
- Supervisors of elections trying to ensure voters are safe casting their ballot
- Among other procedures, all Orange, Seminole poll workers must wear masks
- Get more 2020 Elections coverage
- RELATED: 2020 Florida Voting Guide
Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles will tell you planning for voter safety this year is twofold.
“Well we are looking at it from two sides: We are working on it to protect the voters that come to vote, but also (protect) our polling workers who are working at the polling places,” explained Orange County SOE Bill Cowles.
Cowles suggests voters bring their own blue or back pen to vote and said dividers will be up be between voters and poll workers when checking in.
When signing in to receive their ballot, he says voters will either use a Kleenex or disposable glove to sign an iPad in exchange for their ballot.
“We have all these things in play so that we have tried to reduce any passing of information back and forth,” Cowles said.
In Seminole County, Chris Anderson added a unique twist to the checking-in process. During the pandemic, everyone was buying toilet paper — his office was buying Q-tips.
“We wanted something that was disposable and easy for voters," Seminole County SOE Chris Anderson said. "They dip the Q-tip wrapped in duct tape in to the sponge, the Q-tip in duct tape is a conductor, and this way voters can sign in on the iPad then dispose the Q-tip.”
Voter security is also being taken seriously with COVID-19 consciousness. Traditionally voters would put their ballot in to a Manila folder and walk them to the voting machines. Now voters will be given a disposable security sleeve for their ballot.
But the safety measures don’t stop there.
“In Seminole County we created an additional election worker called the line coordinator," Anderson explains. "That person is responsible for making sure every booth and pen is being sanitized in that precinct.”
From the time voters walk in to the time they leave, steps and procedures are now in place to ensure voter safety during the pandemic.
All poll workers will also wear masks, and according to Cowles and Anderson, expect voter turnout at the polls to be a bit down, as they both have seen a record number of requests for people to receive their ballots by mail.
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