Orlando Sentinel voters guide
Special 6-page section highlights primaries for the 2020 election.
Voting, like everything else this year, is going to be different. Election officials are gearing up with hand sanitizer, gloves, masks and other personal protection equipment and rearranging voting booths to protect against the coronavirus pandemic.
Voters, at least those who opt to vote in person, can expect to feel the changes before they enter the early voting or polling precinct.
“When it comes to early voting or in-person voting — there’s going to be a lot of new changes,” said Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Chris Anderson. “Basically, you can base it on what you’re seeing at supermarkets and department stores and everywhere you go.”
Despite the push to wear masks, Anderson said he can’t force voters to wear them, even in a county like his that has a mask requirement order.
“Seminole County has said yes, you have to wear a mask, but we do not have the authority to enforce that, and we are not going to deny anyone the right to vote based on whether or not they are adhering to county ordinances,” Anderson said. “A county ordinance does not override the U.S. Constitution.”
Election officials got a small dose of running an election during a pandemic in March, when the presidential preference primary went forward in Florida just as much of the state was shutting down as cases of COVID-19 started to rise.
Based on that experience, some are working on getting more poll workers to make up for ones who may not show up, since many poll workers are older and more susceptible to major health complications and death if they con
tract the virus.
They also have other plans to protect workers and voters who show up in person, but part of the plan includes encouraging mail-in voting to reduce the amount of foot traffic in polling precincts, and thus the amount of personal interactions that could spread the virus.
Voting by mail
Anderson said Seminole was the first county in Florida to send out vote-by-mail request forms to all registered voters and his office is seeing a large increase in requests compared with previous years.
Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles said he used federal CARES Act money to help pay for the additional workers needed to process the extra mail ballots.
Just how many of those ballots will be sent back in the mail remains to be seen. Anderson said it depends on the virus, since voters can still choose to vote in-person even if they request a mail ballot but don’t send it in time. Mail ballots must be received by the supervisor of election’s office by 7 p.m. on Aug. 18, the day of the primary, for it to count.
“The (coronavirus) wave, if it dips down and things are starting to get back to normal, people may decide, ‘you know what? ‘I’m just going to go out to the polls,’” Anderson said. “If things get
worse or stay the way they are they may say, ‘okay I’m just going to go ahead and use this vote by mail ballot that I requested.’”
Early voting
Florida law requires early voting to take place at least 10 days before that date, and to be open a minimum of eight hours and a maximum of 12 hours each day. Election officials have the option of adding more early voting days, up to 14 total.
Early voting gives more options to voters who work or would have trouble making it to the polling place on election day before the polls close at 7 p.m. Early voting sites also tend to be less busy than most precincts on election day. But just as with mail-in ballots, those who
cast their votes well before election day will be unable to change their minds if new information on a candidate is revealed after they vote.
Election Day voting
Before voters head to the polls, they’ll receive a sample ballot in the mail with a message strongly encouraging them to wear a mask. In Orange County, the sample ballot also will include a reminder to bring their own black or blue pen with which to fill out the ballot.
Masks, gloves and pens will be available at all 247 Orange precinct polling locations, and pens will be disinfected after each use.
Whether a voter heads to the polls early or on election
day, they’ll be greeted with tape marked in six-foot increments to help those in a line physically distance.
Even in a primary with fewer voters, outside lines could develop. Anderson said in Seminole they’ll keep strict occupancy guidelines, with the number of voting booths matching the number of people that can be in the building at one time, plus the poll workers.
Anderson said he’s adding a new line coordinator position to help make sure the maximum occupancy amount is maintained, and to sanitize voting booths after each use with alcohol wipes.
Before voters get to the booth, though, they’ll meet a poll worker at the check-in station, separated by a plexiglass barrier. Identification will be shown and voters will be encouraged to wear gloves or hold a Kleenex as they sign in on the poll worker’s tablet.
Voting booths will be as distant as possible, depending on the room within the precinct, Cowles said. And instead of the reusable secrecy sleeves to cover the ballot as a voter makes their choices, they’ll be given single-use secrecy sleeves to be discarded after voting.
And a long-held tradition in the aftermath of voting is changing, too.
On the way out, voters will have to grab their “I Voted” sticker off the roll themselves instead of having it handed to them by a poll worker.