[This story by Bill Pickett.]
With concern remaining over COVID-19 coronavirus, local election officials say they have taken steps to make sure voters and election workers stay safe.
Chief Deputy County Clerk Lindsey Light (shown in photo above) says that office mailed out letters to election judges today…..
{”Just letting them know where we have them assigned, that they’ve been re-commissioned, and letting them know who they’re working with. That way that gets that whole process started to see what we’re going to kind of need once we get closer to the election,” said Light. ”Those election judges that don’t feel comfortable working – certainly just let us know, and we will do our very best to get you replaced. But, either way, we’re working on accommodating everybody as much as we possibly can.”}
(Some envelopes in the County Clerk’s office wait to be stuffed with out-going ballots next month.)
Light works in the office of Vermilion County Clerk Cathy Jenkins handling the elections in areas of the county outside Danville. Light says social distancing and masks will be used during training for election judges, adding there is a possibility some training may be done on computer by Zoom.
Danville Election Commission Director Sandy Delhaye says her office has also taken extra steps to protect election workers and voters from the virus. ”COVID changed a lot, and we’re spending a lot of money on things we didn’t need before,” said Delhaye during an interview with VermilionCountyFirst.com News. She adds those things include masks, gloves, antiseptics, and wipes.
Meanwhile, both Delhaye and Light add their offices have decided against using ‘drop boxes’ for November’s Presidential Election. Some counties – including Champaign – will allow voters to drop-off their completed early ballot at drop boxes which are located at locations other than the election offices. Vermilion County Chief Deputy County Clerk Lindsey Light says they discussed it before rejecting the idea….
{”There seemed to be more concerns than there were positives,” said Light. ”We just don’t like the fact that even though it’s a well-lit area with cameras, we don’t like a voted ballot sitting in a box somewhere that we cannot take care of – or we cannot keep an eye on. I wouldn’t leave cash in an open box in the middle of nowhere, so I really did not want to do that to the voters,” added Light.}
(Danville Election Commission Director Sandy Delhaye.)
This year the Presidential Election is a state holiday in Illinois, so Delhaye says maybe some teachers or students will be more inclined to help on Election Day.
