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WHEELING -- Election workers won’t turn a voter away today for not wearing a mask, but they do want a safe and secure election.
Today is Election Day across the nation. Polls in both West Virginia and Ohio open for in-person voting at 6:30 a.m. today and close at 7:30 p.m.
The goal of achieving “safe and secure results” pertains not just to election tallies, but also to the health of voters and poll workers, according to election officials.
“We ask people to wear a mask, but we can’t make them do that because we can’t turn anybody down to vote,” Marshall County Clerk Jan Pest said. “But I don’t think we will have an issue with that. Most people are wearing masks, some aren’t ...
“When you come to vote, bring identification -- and a mask, we ask.”
Poll workers also will have some masks available for voters who forget to bring theirs.
Voters wary of going to polling locations as the number of COVID-19 cases increases locally will notice personal protective equipment at the polls -- such as hand sanitizer, bleach wipes and gloves for voters so they don’t have to touch the voting screen with a bare hand.
“If they don’t want to use a glove, we can’t make them,” Pest said. “But we will clean the screen in between voters.”
In the event there are a number of people at a polling place at the same time, floors have been marked with “X’s” 6 feet apart to indicate where they should stand to assure social distancing.
Those people presently in quarantine or who think they may be sick should avoid going to the polls, Pest said. Instead, these individuals should contact their county elections office to discuss alternate plans, according to Pest.
High numbers of early voters and absentee ballots have been recorded in local counties. But Ohio County Coordinator of Elections Toni Chieffalo expects the polls will be busy today.
“A lot of people have been calling the office to ask what time we will be open,” she said. “I think a lot of them are planning to come before they go to work.”
She said once a voter has marked their ballot on a voting device, they take the finished ballot printed by the device to a ballot reader at the voting precinct. They will insert the ballot into the reader, then place it in a ballot box — all without any others making contact with the ballot.
Both she and Pest expect voting results for local races to be tabulated tonight, as all absentee ballots received already have been read by the scanner. They will be counted in with results tonight.