When the electorate attended the polls across the country on Tuesday, they encountered a variety of precautions designed to prevent presidential elections from adjusting to a Covid-19 mass circulation event.
The masks and hand sanitist were ubiquitous, of course, as were the masks. In New York, some polling stations distributed individual pens to vote, while others cleared the markers between each use. In an Ohio county, each user was given a plastic glove to use when handling their ballot. And in several states, other people who were too afraid to get out of their cars and stand in a socially remote line can simply vote on the street, as if they were picking up takeaways.
However, despite security measures, there have been sporadic overcrowded court cases, as well as fears that in some communities severely affected by disease and unemployment, voting is “a priority,” as one San Francisco activist said.
STAT has sent reporters to polling stations in 4 states from coast to coast: New York, Ohio, Wisconsin and California. Here’s what you saw Tuesday morning and last weekend’s early vote.
“I’m more involved with the direction this country is taking than with a serious flu case,” said Wcislo, who added that he had voted for President Trump. “My husband voted before, and said the worst about it, the mask. , because he doesn’t use one. “
The outdoor sidewalks at the voting station were covered with symptoms that asked the electorate to cover his face, are not obligatory, and stay away from others. paper and hand sanitist as they rose a few feet away.
No one waited more than a few minutes between nine and ten in the morning. Wcislo said the procedure took him only seven minutes. “It’s longer, but I think everyone went to vote early because of Covid and everything else,” he said.
As of October 20, nearly a third of the county’s 130,000 registered voters had voted early or had mailed ballots, county officials said. Voters in Medina favored Trump through 25 percent issues in 2016, and Wcislo has said he expects the same result this year, though he is involved in the integrity of the election.
“I’m very involved with the vote counting process,” he said. “I hope we go out with ours with so many Trump votes that we may not have to worry about that. “
In neighboring Summit County, which includes the city of Akron, Caleb Habeck, 27, said he was contemplating ordering a vote by mail but preferred to vote in person. Be taking each and every one of the precautions. All election officials wore masks, but many also wore face shields and a clear plastic gown from neck to toe.
“I used hand sanitist before and after entering, but they cleaned the device very well, so I didn’t think it was obligatory to do anything else,” said Habeck, a pediatrician. He said he turned out to vote for Biden because Trump’s disrespect for science is the pandemic.
“I don’t appreciate you not respecting the perspectives and criticisms of scientists,” he said. “Indeed, I walked far away from him.
Habeck, a component of a slow network of voters who visited the polling station in the middle of the morning. Election officials said it was much more crowded between 6:30 a. m. M. Y. 9 a. m. When the ranks ran out. A worker, who didn’t give her name, said the county. he strongly suggested to the entire electorate that they wear masks, but it would not prevent anyone from voting if they decided not to.
– Casey Ross
Many voted at some of the city’s most important landmarks, the Hollywood Bowl and Magic Castle at Dodger Stadium, where the electorate dressed in Mookie Betts jerseys and World Series champion jerseys cheered after receiving loose Milk Bar cookies from Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei. The Pantages Theatre, which calls itself “The Room Where It Happened,” distributed limited edition “I Voted” stickers in Hamilton.
This year’s electorate also had the option to vote on the sidewalk if they were afraid to enter an electoral college for fear of infection or if they needed to wear a mask.
Those who saw the polls said participation seemed high. Trudy Josephson, a civic activist looking in Laguna Beach, said the lists she won showed that about 80% of the others in the domain she was targeting had already voted on Saturday. he had not “said they would soon leave their ballots in a mailbox or at an electoral college,” he said.
Others feared that the pandemic would reduce participation, especially in communities that had been greatly affected by the virus, such as the San Francisco Mission District, where 95% of others who tested positive for coronavirus in May were Latino. activist and vice president of the Latin Cultural District 24th Street, involved by the low participation he saw in his community compared to the city’s wealthiest communities.
“If you look at the Mission District, the stake is 43% in some locations and in spaces like Noe Valley, there are 70 districts on horseback,” he said Monday. “Many other people are so focused on economic survival right now. Voting doesn’t seem to be a priority. “
Jacobo, who was bernie Sanders’ past press secretary, said the pandemic had reduced many voter registration activities that would have taken place before this year. “I usually run a voter registration campaign every year,” he said. year we’re not doing it. We are absolutely excited about Covid’s reaction: testing, food deliveries, rental vouchers. “
Many of those who voted as a user said they felt at polling stations. In California, no mask was needed to vote, however, many wore masks to those who did not, as well as gloves and beneficial doses of hand sanitist.
“I haven’t felt like I’ve been in a covered area since the start of the pandemic,” said one voter, who voted for Biden at an electoral college in the suburbs of Los Angeles, but didn’t give his name. “Everything was disinfected as soon as I touched it. “
The researchers looked much younger this year, the electorate noted. The young staff were recruited through election clerks this year because of physical fitness disorders in older volunteers, said Lisa Bryant, associate professor of political science at California State University, Fresno. of staff, Bryant said the inexperience of new election officials can extend processing times and timelines.
– Usha Lee McFarling
“They come and leave everything blank, as soon as they’re going to vote, they erase everything,” Key said.
It was a similar scene Sunday’s early vote at Brookhaven Town Hall, where others waited more than 3 hours to vote. Upon entering, a voting officer applied hand sanitist into each person’s hands. Inside, the masked staff and some with face shields sat down. on tables without plastic partitions. Voters said there was enough room to move safely.
“In terms of health, they did a wonderful job,” said Judy Pepenella, who said she was sorry to bring her 91-year-old mother to vote.
Even markers used through the electorate to complete their ballots received special attention because staff wiped them with a cloth after use. Meanwhile, at several polling stations in Brooklyn this weekend, the electorate received their own pen to vote. “Vote NYC” is a stylus.
“Before I was done doing the thing on the machine, there was a girl who was cleaning me up,” said Vinroy Webb, who voted at the Brooklyn Museum and kept his voting pen. “I am very inspired with what is going on. “
Brooklyn College voters, however, were not happy with the precautions. The other people waiting outdoors were socially remote and there was a bright orange table near the front of the line with hand sanitizer, disposable gloves and disinfectant wipes. I count after entering the building.
“Inside, there were a lot of people swarming. Even the privacy booths were too close together,” said Isobela Modica, who voted with her husband, Joshua.
“They tried to take us back to the empty booths on the other side, and I just said, ‘I’m not comfortable walking in this crowd,” he said. then, ‘because there were 25 other people without problems in the area where we had to go.
He said there were too many election officials and that they had let in too many people at once. Peter Scheerer, a doctor and public fitness professional who also voted in college, shared his concern.
“He’s excited there. He’s busier than I’d be sure,” Scheerer said. He came in and out in less than 8 minutes, so he said he’s not as involved with the electorate as he is with election officials who spend their shifts inside.
– Nicolas St. Fleur
Wisconsin’s seven-day average for Covid-19 positive tests is now 30. 1%, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. More than 232,000 citizens tested positive throughout the state and more than 2,000 other people died from Covid.
“Masks are mandatory for election officials and observers. They are also unanimous through our bipartisan voting committee,” Meagan Wolfe, an administrator of the electoral commission, said at her morning press conference. “But for voters, they are not mandatory, because you cannot raise an additional rating to the constitutional right to vote. “
But Wolfe suggested that the electorate wear a mask and said more masks would be available at polling places.
The numerous internal polling stations with hand sanitist and the sites presented the vote on the street as an option to vote inside.
With plexiglass between election officials and voters, the employee wore a mask at the polling station at West Allis Town Hall, west of Milwaukee, according to an election observer.
Outside, more than a hundred other people piled up in small teams and dispersed into a long line around the block. Although not everyone was wearing a mask, almost the entire electorate wore his mask once inside, said the observer, who did not allow his name to be given.
In the city of Milwaukee, which broke its early voting record, queues were much shorter in the vote of the Mary Ryan Boys and Girls Club in Sherman Park. Just before 8 a. m. , a dozen people were waiting.
Voters were masked: “Everyone has a mask,” said Luis, a volunteer who handed out bottles of water and packaged snacks as a component of the national Pizza at the ballot box. He stood near a red, white and blue food truck, sporting “Democracy is delicious” on the side.
Nearby, the electorate of Hi-Mount Community School, near Washington Park in Milwaukee, did not have to line up and entered to vote.
In New Berlin, Waukesha County, west of Milwaukee, about 40 electorates were covered in the public library about an hour before the polls opened. Most wore masks and shuddered in the air at 40 degrees. A voting officer spoke to each of them. out of the gates to make sure they knew their neighborhood. A police SUV stopped near the entrance.
– Becky Lang
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