Survey: County’s pollsters would work amid pandemic

Harris County poll workers seem willing to participate in this fall’s presidential election, even amid the pandemic, but voters across the political spectrum are more reluctant about in-person voting, according to a recent Rice University survey.

“What was surprising to us was how many poll workers were committed to working the polls with the caveat that they wanted protective gear, Plexiglass screens and Q-tips (to cast votes on machines). They wanted to do in-person voting with protection,” said Bob Stein, a political science professor who ran the survey funded by Rice’s COVID-19 Initiative with colleagues from the university’s psychology, anthropology and computer science departments.

The survey conducted between March 27 and May 4 found that regardless of party affiliation workers were game to show up if conditions are safe enough.

The county has been gearing up for an altered landscape since the pandemic caused shutdowns of several spring primaries in other states. Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman, who is resigning at the end of the month, said through a spokesperson Saturday that she anticipates an increase in mail-in ballots and plans to add more scanning and sorting capability to process them. Her office is working to boost the number of voting and early voting locations and seeking larger sites, such as school gymnasiums, to facilitate social distancing. The county also plans to purchase protective gear and host virtual training for poll workers, officials said.

The multidisciplinary team behind the study contacted 1,800 Harris County poll workers and 1,000 registered voters, asking about their willingness to participate in a variety of theoretical voting scenarios — outdoor voting, drive-thru sites, traditional polling centers with protective equipment and voting by mail or online.

Nearly 80 percent of poll workers said they were likely to help out in November at sites that observed social distancing guidelines and provided personal protective equipment. Poll staffers were were less enthusiastic about outdoor or drive-thru voting scenarios, according to the Rice findings. Many election workers said they relied on the seasonal income.

Voters’ responses lined up more predictably based on their age, party and gender. Democrats, women and people over 65 opted for potential remote voting — drive-thru, drop-off, mail-in or online options. Republicans, men and voters under under 65 were more willing to cast ballots in person.

More than 30 percent of Democrats said were unlikely to vote in person with nothing but social distancing to protect them, versus 9 percent of Republicans. A fourth of women voters were reluctant to vote in person, compared to 14 percent of men. Among voters over 65, who are at greater risk if exposed to the virus, 27 percent said they probably wouldn’t vote even with protections in place; whereas, 18 percent of voters under 65 said they were averse to voting under those circumstances.

Political scientist Jeronimo Cortina, of the University of Houston, said the county will have to come up with variety of voting options in order to maximize the number of votes cast.

“It’s going to take a lot of logistics and it’s going to take a lot of patience from voters,” Cortina said. “One voter at a time is going to test voters’ patience.”

Nationally, studies have found that 70 to 75 percent of voters want universal access to mail-in ballots, according to Renée Cross, another UH political science professor, who has been tracking the numbers. Among Harris County voters, 69 percent overall said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to participate in mail-in voting in the survey, although the option is purely theoretical. Absentee voting is only an option for Texas residents who are over 65 or disabled. A federal lawsuit in San Antonio has challenged this restriction.

“If you want to have a fair voting process, you want to look at alternatives to voting in person,” said Nancy Sims, a political analyst. She thinks voters will be determined to exercise their right regardless: “The more challenging it’s made, the more determined people become.”