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Election
It’s a presidential election year, which means voter interest is high.
But like everything else in 2020, this election is shaping up to be like none before it.
The coronavirus pandemic has altered how local election boards are handling early, in-person and mail-in voting while at the same time pushing political posturing more and more into the conversation about how to ensure the security of the November votes.
Robin Webb, elections supervisor for the Hart County Board of Elections, said politics has no place in how she, her staff and volunteers conduct the business of running Hart County elections, but the pandemic-prompted changes and the national political conversations have created a lot of questions.
Many questions are about mail-in voting, which saw a massive increase in the postponed primary election on June 9 as many voters sheltered in place amid coronavirus restrictions. Webb said there were more than 3,200 absentee votes counted in the primary out of more than 4,000 ballots sent through the mail. That is roughly six times the previous high mark.
The general election appears to be on track for at least a similarly high number of absentee voting. Webb said they are processing about 15-25 applications for mail-in ballots each day. That is on top of the people who are already signed up for one because they voted previously that way and marked on their application that they are elderly or disabled.
Anyone who does plan to vote with a mail-in ballot should apply as soon as they can, Webb said.
“It can overload the post offices,” Webb said.
She encouraged people who want to apply to request an application from the board of elections and to return them by mid September for best results. Ballots can be mailed as late as Oct. 30, she said, but with election day on Nov. 3, that leaves little time to return them, especially via mail.
Webb said there is a drop box under 24-hour surveillance outside the elections office on Cade Street in Hartwell. It is a safe, simple and quick way to turn in an application or a ballot, she added.
When filling out either an application or a ballot, Webb said it is imperative to use the same, legal signature the elections board has on file from when the voter registered.
“We do check every signature,” she said. “This is not about creating a new hoop to jump through, but we have know it’s you who signed it.”
If the signature on file looks like John Hancock’s but the mail-in application is written in print, the elections workers will have to contact the person to verify they did indeed fill out the application.
Voters can also request to sign a new signature card to update theirs or the elections board may send a cure affidavit to fix the issue.
Ensuring signatures match is a key step in ensuring ballots sent in are indeed those of the voters who received them.
“I think we have a good system, but it has to be followed correctly,” Webb said.
If the system is not followed — if signatures don’t match or can’t be verified or if applications for ballots are not filled out properly and can’t be corrected — it could mean ballots are not counted or applications cannot be processed. That does not happen in many cases though. Webb said it is imperative that the instructions on the applications for ballots and on the ballots themselves are followed closely. This will both make things run more smoothly and keep elections workers from having to try track people down to reconcile the issues.
Webb also said to use care when tearing ballots along perforated edges as instructed. She said workers receive a lot of ballots that are torn all the way across, instead of only along the three to four inch area that is supposed to be removed before returning them. These ballots can still be counted, but it requires much more work and slows down the process.
Webb added that politics or political affiliation in no way impacts how mail-in ballots are counted. The elections staff and volunteers seek to conduct a fair and open election in which all registered voters get their chance to vote.
“We also get a lot of phone calls about applications and voter registration cards people are getting by mail,” Webb said. “They are receiving multiple applications for voter registration and multiple absentee ballot requests that they have not requested. They are confused and are concerned that it is a scam. While these are legitimate applications, it does not mean that they are not registered. Nor does it mean that if they send in a duplicate absentee ballot application that they will receive more than one ballot. There are safe guards to prevent that.”
Some people who have applied for and received a mail-in ballot still show up to vote in person. Webb said anyone in that situation should bring the canceled mail-in ballot with them to the polls so poll workers can efficiently make the adjustments needed to allow that person to vote in person.
“Otherwise, the poll workers will have to call the office to check the status of the ballot, have the voter sign an affidavit saying that they lost or damaged their ballot, and then poll worker cancels the absentee ballot,” Webb said. “That is all before processing the in-person ballot. It slows the line down considerably.”
People also need to remember that if they voted through the mail, they have already voted in the general election and they cannot cast another vote in person on Nov. 3, Webb said. It is still the same election.
The last day to register for the Nov. 3 general election is Oct. 5.
Absentee ballots are expected to begin going out on Sept. 19. Sample ballots should be available by then as well at the board of elections office.
Early voting will begin Oct. 12 and run through Oct. 30, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the lower level of the Hart County Library on Benson Street. Saturday voting will be at the same location on Oct. 24.