What are MS Coast counties doing to prevent COVID-19 at election polling places?
Election day will look different this year in Mississippi because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Poll workers will be masking up. County election commissions running the general election have been training poll workers and preparing sanitation measures for Nov. 3.
“There’s a lot of thought that went into this,” said Danny Glaskox, chairman of the Jackson County Election Commission.
Harrison County election commissioner Barbara Kimball said: “We’re taking every precaution we can for people to feel safe at the polls.”
And Stephanie Ladner, an election commissioner in Hancock one request: “Have patience. This is an unprecedented time. If they just find it in their hearts to have patience with us, we will get them voted and get them out the door.”
Mississippi voters will cast ballots for president, U.S. Senate and representative, although District 4 Rep. Steven Palazzo is unopposed in South Mississippi, and in other races, depending on location. Mississippi also has several initiatives on the ballot, including whether to adopt the “In God We Trust” new magnolia flag as the official state flag.
Here’s what to expect at the polls.
Masks, hand sanitizer, gloves available at polls
Voters will be greeted by poll workers who offer them masks if they are not wearing them. Voters have the option to refuse masks, but election commissioners are hoping they will agree to wear them.
Voters also will be offered hand sanitizer and gloves. Election commissioners said the Secretary of State’s Office sent supplies funded under the CARES Act.
Voters must then present valid identification, which could be a driver’s license or other form of ID, at the voter registration table. In all three Coast counties, precinct workers verifying identification will be wearing masks, face shields and gloves. They will sit 6 feet apart where possible.
Sanitized privacy folders for ballots
The workers will give voters a voting card or ballot in a sanitized privacy folder. Pens for voting also will be sanitized between votes, but voters have the option of taking the pens with them.
In Hancock and Jackson counties, voters will put a card in the voting machine and make selections. Hancock County voters can use a stylus on the touch screen.
Jackson County’s election commission went with food-service gloves so that voters are not touching any equipment with their bare hands. The machine records each vote, then the selections are erased from the card, which they can drop in a basket to be sanitized.
In Harrison County, voters will receive ballots in a plastic folder that can be sanitized. Once they vote with a pen, they feed the ballot into a machine that records their selections and leave behind the folder.
Social distancing while voting
Election commissioners say they will have at least one person at each precinct, and more in larger precincts, to sanitize voting machines and equipment after each use.
Election officials also will try to limit the size of crowds inside the precincts. Sunny weather on election day would help, they say.
Social distancing of 6 feet also will be monitored, although election commissioners say maintaining that much distance is not always possible in smaller precincts.
Early voting options in Mississippi
While other states have come up with early voting options because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippi is allowing only a narrow exception: Anyone under physician-imposed quarantine, or caring for a dependent under physician-imposed quarantine, can vote by absentee ballot either through the mail or in their circuit clerk’s office.
Pre-coronavirus election laws already allow absentee voting in some circumstances, including for anyone who is 65 years old or older, has a temporary or permanent disability, is a commissioned or enlisted members of the armed forces, or will be outside their county of residence on election day, which includes college students away from home.
Find a complete list of absentee eligibility here.
The deadline for voting by absentee ballot in the circuit clerk’s office is Oct. 31. Absentee ballots by mail must be postmarked by 5 p.m. Nov. 3 and received within five business days of the election.
