Officials hope for smooth Election Day

WEST CHESTER » Officials in Chester County are planning to offer a safe and smooth experience at polling places on Tuesday, preparing for what could be a record turnout with emotions running high in the race for president and the threat of COVID- 19 on voters’ minds.

“We recognize it is going to be busy,” said Bill Turner, the interim director of the county Office of Voters Services, while showing visitors the county’s election storage room last week, where both the precinct vote tabulating machines and the new mail- in ballot processing unit are located. As many as 150,000 voters could converge on the county’s 193 polling places, he speculated.

“But we will do whatever we can to accommodate people,” he said.

Voters will face a number of precautions put in place to ward off concerns about possible infection by the novel coronavirus. To begin with, voters will be separated by six feet distances while

waiting in line and asked to wear protective face masks.

When they are called to the polling station to sign the poll book, the election workers they face will be masked and behind plexiglass shields. After signing in, the page their name appeared on while be wiped down with bacterial sanitizer, bottles of which will be readily available.

Although all voters will be asked to wear a masks that cannot be mandated — although the polling places will have disposable masks on hand to give to those voters who had forgotten to wear on. Those who refuse will be escorted to a separate voting room in the polling place, where they will be able to cast their ballot.

Turner said that. Those voters who inform the polling place officials that they have been exposed to a COVID19 positive case will be given the opportunity to vote curbside from their care, or in another room off from the main polling place.

“We don’t want any positive COVID people in the buildings,” he said. “And we are hopeful that voters will self identify” if they are either positive with the virus themselves or had contact with someone who is.

The county has also coordinated a law enforcement response should there be reports of voter intimidation or suppression at the polling places, as reports have surfaced nationally of possible instances where

armed people could appear at precincts.

The Associated Press has reported that the Trump campaign has been videotaping people as they deposit ballots in drop boxes in Philadelphia in what it says is an attempt to catch voting violations, surveillance that the Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro suggested could amount to illegal intimidation that the campaign acknowledged the taping in a letter from a lawyer that complained it had caught voters on video illegally depositing multiple ballots. City elections officials responded they could not confirm the activity was inappropriate under Pennsylvania law.

The Attorney General’s Office is investigating multiple “disturbances” between these Trump campaign volunteers and voters who were filmed or photographed dropping off absentee ballots, according to Shapiro’s communications director, Jacklin Rhoads.

Early incidents like the ones Shapiro’s office is investigating have raised alarm about “poll watchers” — the official, partysanctioned kind, or simply people showing up to places where voting is taking place — in part because of the president’s frequent and false claims of widespread voter fraud and repeated calls for his supporters to “watch” the polls and stop it.

On Saturday, Chester County District Attorney said her office would have a half dozen prosecutors on call on Tuesday to handle any reports of problems

at the polling places. She said county law enforcement agencies — local police, the county Sheriff’s Office, and the county Department of Emergency Services — had coordinated a set of guidelines to follow should there be reports of voter intimidation or large disturbances.

“We are working with all agencies to make sure the integrity of the election process is upheld,” Ryan said in an interview. “If there is evidence of any type of voter intimidation or suppression, law enforcement will be dispatched to assist” at the polls, she said. Local police are prohibited from acting as polling place security; those responsibilities are up to local Judges of Elections and appointed constables, Ryan noted.

Ryan said she has not heard about any planned demonstrations or confrontations at the county’s polling places on Tuesday.

“I am hopeful we will have a peaceful day at the polls, and that our voters will act peacefully,” Ryan said.

But Democrats claim there had already been instances of intimidation against party voters by Trump supporters — although their assertions could not be independently verified.

“I have already witnessed attempts to intimidate voters as they were coming to the Government Services Center for early in- person voting,” Chester County Democratic Committee Chairman Dick Bingham said in an email. “Republican ‘ greeters’ there were approaching voters in the

parking lot saying Democrats were not allowed to vote there. Those same ‘ greeters’ were calling our people who were there jerks. Our people were there to distribute signs and buttons as voters were departing.

“We do have our organization on high alert that potential problems and even disturbances may occur,” Bingham said. “We have an outpouring of volunteers coming out to help make sure everyone is able to exercise their right to vote.”

But both Bingham and Chester County Republican Committee Chairman Dr. Gordon Eck praised the efforts of county election officials in working to make sure the Election Day — and afterward — goes smoothly.

“It has also been a pleasure to work with Voter Services in the buildup to this unique election,” Eck said in an email. “They are the best in the state and I anticipate things going as smoothly as possible with all the changes that have taken place.

“The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights we have as Americans and is fundamental to sustaining our democracy,” Eck stated. “I am encouraged to see so many people have already cast their ballot by taking advantage of the mail- in- ballot process. The residents of Chester County have a mutual respect for their fellow citizens and I do not expect any notable disturbances to occur.”