Voting in Person? Here's What It Might Look Like in California
A pandemic and record-setting wildfires are putting unprecedented challenges on election officials this year. Neighborhood polling places such as schools, churches and nursing homes have been harder to secure, and voting locations must adhere to strict safety guidelines. Furthermore, when 21 million ballots are mailed to voters next week, thousands of Californians displaced by wildfires might be unable to receive ballots.
This puts pressure on voting locations to be ready to receive large amounts of people safely. Some counties are preparing by converting stadiums, and even museums, into vote centers. Dodger Stadium and the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara are among the large arenas that will accommodate in-person voting.
To get an idea of what in-person voting will look like this year, I asked Neal Kelley, chief election official for Orange County, about how he is preparing. Mr. Kelley said all workers will be outfitted in personal protective equipment, including face coverings and gloves. They will wear aprons containing disinfectant supplies and will offer face coverings to unmasked voters, although they cannot force people to wear them, he said. Voting stations will be disinfected after every use and hand sanitizer readily available. Voters will be given their own pens to complete ballots, which they will also scan themselves. There will be a dispenser for “I voted” stickers that people can help themselves to.
Starting Oct. 30, Mr. Kelley said there will be 170 vote centers open in Orange County, including the Honda Center, an indoor arena with 20,000 square feet of usable space. Forty-two of the vote centers will offer drive-through options for ballot drop offs and voting. Drive-through voting operates much like a fast-food restaurant, where ballots are exchanged through a vehicle’s window. There are also 116 ballot dropboxes installed throughout the county.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/us/voting-in-california.html