Even with an increase in mail-in ballots, Spokane election center takes COVID-19 precautions. | Pixabay
Even with an increase in mail-in ballots, Spokane election center takes COVID-19 precautions. | Pixabay
Even with an increase in mail-in ballots, the Spokane election center will face changes this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, KREM 2 reported.
Workers counting ballots will be required to wear masks as will voters coming into the office.
“We have hand sanitizer, we have temperature checks,” county auditor Vicky Dalton told KREM 2.
The layout of the election center has also been changed.
"The first big challenge is simply just being able to spread our employees out far enough to practice social distancing,” Dalton told KREM 2. “So right now we are a sea of tables and Plexiglas."
The means normally used for counting ballots won’t be available on election day. Counting the ballots may be slower than usual, but an ballot postmarked by election day will be counted, KREM 2 reported.
For the primary election on Aug. 4, the county expected to still be counting ballots for two weeks before certifying the election.
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