How is COVID-19 changing voting in Beaufort County? Well, it involves cotton swabs
Whether you’re a regular voter who shows up for every election or someone voting for the first time in the June 9 primary, coronavirus precautions will affect how you cast your ballot.
Here are the changes you can expect:
▪ All voters will be provided with a cotton swab or glove to make their choices on the touchscreen machine. Voters will dispose of those items once they’ve cast their ballot.
▪ All check-in stations and voting equipment will be spaced at least six feet apart.
▪ All check-in stations will have sneeze guards.
▪ Clean pens will be available to sign the voter sign-in book. Voters may also bring their own.
▪ Poll workers will clean voting machines and common touch surfaces periodically throughout the day.
▪ Poll workers will wear face masks and encourage voters to wear them. A limited number of masks will be available at the polling place for those who don’t have them.
▪ Hand sanitizer will be available at polling locations.
▪ Poll managers will undergo special training on social distancing and on maintaining sanitary conditions in the polling place.
“We will make every effort to provide a sense of security for the voter,” Marie Smalls, director of the Board of Voter Registration and Elections of Beaufort County, said. “We also ask that voters do all the things that the CDC is asking them to do.”
Coronavirus has also affected absentee voting, especially since S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster signed a law that expanded absentee voting to any South Carolina voter registered to vote in the June 9 primary and any subsequent runoffs.
While in-person absentee voting is down in Beaufort County compared to last year, mail-in absentee voting has increased, Smalls said.
As of May 20, the board had received 230 in-person absentee ballots, almost 2,000 mail-in ones, and 5,500 new applications to vote absentee.
If you decide to vote in person June 9, be sure to check your polling location before you go. You can do that as well as check your registration status and see a sample ballot at scvotes.org.
Three new precincts will be added in the Bluffton area for the primary, and some polling locations have been moved because of a lack of poll workers, according to Smalls. She said a list of all polling locations will be released soon.
The 2020 general election
There are a number of local races on the ballots for this year’s general election in Beaufort and Jasper counties.
In Beaufort County, four seats are up for grabs on Beaufort County Council and the coroner’s position is on the ballot.
Jasper County will vote for sheriff, coroner, and clerk of court in addition to three Jasper County Council races.
Statewide, all six House seats and three Senate seats are up for grabs.
This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 3:17 PM.
