ASHEVILLE – Patriotic pride and a favorite accessory for Election Day selfies won’t be in Buncombe County in November.
There will be no “I voted” stickers at the polling place, the county’s director of election services, Corrine Duncan, said at a briefing on August 27. He said the decals had been removed for close contact between election officials. voters.
“We removed the stickers and handed them over to the electorate and it was just a dead thing at the ballot box, so unfortunately we didn’t use them,” he said.
This is one of many changes the Board of Elections has made this year in order to make voting safer in the time of COVID-19. Duncan said her department has been focused since March on ensuring that everyone in Buncombe has the opportunity to cast their ballot safely.
“Voters might, understandably, be apprehensive about going out in public to vote during this election,” she said in a video shared during the briefing. “In order to reduce crowds, we’re trying to spread voters across voting methods.”
These 3 essential strategies are:
“We need to assure other people that voting is and that there are three characteristics to vote, so don’t let COVID take your vote,” Duncan said.
Buncombe County Election Council has already won 25,000 requests for absent time for mail ballots this year. In 2016, they obtained a total of 7,500 applications.
“We pulled him out of the water this year and we still have two and a half months left,” Duncan said.
Most likely, many members of the community, especially immunosuppressed ones, prefer this option during the pandemic and are open to all.
More: COVID: Buncombe reports coronavirus deaths in 2 weeks
To vote by mail, an application must be submitted to the Office of Electoral Services. This form of application is available on the council’s website, BuncombeCounty.org/vote. Voters can also download the user form at the 77 McDowell Street workplace in Asheville.
The form of the application can be mailed, faxed or passed to the electoral office. The deadline to send it is October 27. The U.S. Postal Service must mail the survey one week in advance no later than October 20.
“If you’ve submitted an application, you won’t get a receipt notice, you’ll only get your survey in the mail,” Duncan said. “You don’t want to complete more than one application, so if you’ve submitted one, we’ll take care of you.”
Duncan said it would not harm someone’s candidacy if they filed a duplicate application, but that it would delay election operations.
The first surveys by mail will be mailed on September 4. Those who have already applied will get their survey within two weeks of that day, Duncan said. The survey will arrive with commandos and the electorate will want a witness when it is filled out. After the survey is complete, the electorate can publish or position it in person.
Ballots sent by mail must bear the stamp of the post site on or before voting on the day of voting, however, Duncan is under pressure not to be earned more than 3 days after voting day for them to be counted.
“Given the delays in postal operations, we inspired everyone to publish before Election Day,” Duncan said.
Ballots can also be in person.
This can be done after September 4th at 77 McDowell Street. There will be a separate line for the delivery of voting by mail, so that the electorate has to pass through the lobby.
Ballots can be delivered to one of 16 early voting locations.
There will not be a separate line for those absent by mail in those places, however, the electorate can check the waiting card on the county’s online page to decide the location with the fewest people online. Voters will have to point out this option for voting and an election official will point out in it.
Voters can mail ballots to close relatives, but they deliver ballots to their friends or neighbors.
For citizens of long-term care centres, the Electoral Commission has multi-party assistance in responding to absentee requests and voting papers.
“We have the convenience to provide this service while following the North Carolina Department of Health’s protection rules,” Duncan said. “If you would like to contribute to this effort, please let us know.”
Face-to-face voting will be a similar early voting and voting day, but will be different from last year’s elections.
“If you vote in person, you will be greeted by a host who will offer you a hand sanitizer and, if you don’t have a mask, you’ll have a mask at your disposal,” Duncan said.
The National Elections Council has ordered that no one be evicted from an election election for not dressing up.
“But we voted to be safe, so we strongly inspired them to (wear a mask) and make sure the social distance,” Duncan said.
Learn more about the 2020 election:
Polling stations will have markers for the electorate to remain at least 6 feet away.
Once you arrive, you will pass the check-in station and get a one-time pen, which you can take home instead of a sticker. There will be a shield in the workplace to separate election officials from voters.
Election officials will also wear face blankets and gloves, wear hand sanitizer, social distance and hand-washing guidelines, and get disinfectant wipes for the most affected surfaces.
Any dominance affected through the electorate or election officials will be disinfected between uses, Duncan said. This includes booths and voting apparatus. The distance between the voting booths and the apparatus will also be greater to take into account the social distance.
“To help you reduce the time you spend at a polling station, prepare for your voting book in advance,” Duncan said. These can be discovered through the voter search tool in vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup.
Street voting for others who are physically unable to enter the polling station due to their age or disability will use disposable cases to hide ballots.
Election officials will receive training on coronavirus precautions and Buncombe has emergency voting officials in case some are inflamed with the virus.
“We will examine the electorate for fever or other symptoms, however, election staff will self-examine symptoms or exposure and report them to the county election board,” Duncan said.
Early voting will take place at 16 locations across the county from October 15 to 31. Locations can be found in BuncombeCounty.org/vote.
The state advises 20,000 electorates in line with the polling station, according to Duncan; Buncombe has about 13,000 electorates in line with the polling station.
“We believe that we will be able to distribute a lot of voters in early voting and this has been a popular voting approach in Buncombe County,” Duncan said.
A waiting card in the county will allow the electorate to see how many other people are in a place before they go.
Voting on Election Day will be held at 80 locations across the county. Voters can access their polling station through the voter search tool on vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup.
Duncan stated that he believed an emergency provision would apply if a user who had not benefited from early or absent voting found that he was positive for COVID on Election Day, but said he needed to delve into the matter.
Buncombe’s medical director, Dr. Jennifer Mullendore, said this kind of fear inspires the electorate to plan for the future, which may mean simply opting for one of the other voting options.
Those with questions can call the Buncombe County Elections Office at 828-250-4200 or move on to BuncombeCounty.org/vote.
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Mackenzie Wicker covers the growth, progression and care of fitness for Asheville Citizen Times. You can register for her on [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @MackWick.
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