VIGO COUNTY, Ind – The Vigo County Election Board modified its vote center plan Tuesday. The new plan will include larger venues that better allow social distancing for in-person absentee voting and in-person voting on primary election day – June 2.
The board also adopted policies regarding masks and gloves to safeguard voters and workers.
The board is also concerned that vote tabulation could be slowed due to some of the new safeguards. With that in mind, if 75% of the ballots have not been counted, they will pause at 10:30 that evening and resume counting the following morning.
There will be fewer vote centers but more voting machines in bigger venues to allow for better distancing. You will be required to use the stylus which will be sanitized after each use. Other cleaning measures will be put into place.
Some school buildings will be used. Officials stopped using those sites in the past to keep sex offenders from the grounds, but since schools are closed and there are no children present, that will not be a problem. School buildings will not be used after the primary.
In-person absentee ballot voting will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 26 to May 30 for all centers except the Vigo County Annex. There is no voting on Sunday. The annex will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 26 to May 30 and will be the only site open on June 1, from 8 a.m. to noon.
All vote center sites will be open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 2 election.
A list of polling places are below … click the graphic to download a copy.
BELOW ARE THE PROCEDURES FOR POLL WORKERS AND VOTERS:
Covid-19 Vote Center Procedure Poll Workers:
Wear a mask. Gloves will be available for use while using Clorox wipes only. Gloves can cross contaminate, be careful.
Poll Workers will ALWAYS use a stylus when touching any of the machine screens!!
Every two hours you will clean tables & door handles with Clorox wipes.
DO NOT use Clorox wipes on any of the machines!
Be sure you wash hands or use hand sanitizer when done.
Ask the Voter to wait till they are leaving the Vote Center to sanitize their hands.
Hand sanitizer can damage their paper ballot and will damage the machines.
The E-Poll Book Clerks will tell the Voter to use a stylus and the Voter will keep it with them to use on the OVI.
Initial Clerks will tell the Voters to put the stylus in the basket marked “used”.
Initial Clerks will clean the stylus with alcohol wipes and place in the “cleaned” basket.
Keep the “cleaned basket” out of reach to the public.
Poll Workers take the time to wash your hands for 20 seconds and/or use hand sanitizer every hour.
Do not touch machines unless your hands are completely dry.
Do not touch your face while working.
Poll Workers must keep Voters six feet apart at all times. Each Vote Center will have a Clerk employee working as an Election Official.
The Election Official will not be working as a poll worker. Their job is to help maintain social distancing, the use of PPE, sanitizing and maintain flow through the Vote Center.
To clean the machines, use Screen Kleen wipes every two hours.
Voters:
Voters MUST maintain 6 feet social distancing while in line and in the Vote Center.
Voters MUST use a stylus at all machines. The stylus are cleaned after each usage. DO NOT
TOUCH THE MACHINES WITH YOUR
HANDS!
Voters do not use hand sanitizer until you are leaving the Vote Center. Hand sanitizer can damage the paper ballot and will damage the machines.
LISTEN TO INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN BY THE POLL WORKERS.
Cover Image by conolan from Pixabay