Election Day is just around the corner, and Leflore County election officials are making sure voters on Tuesday will be as safe as possible regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Safety is the first priority in this election,” said Circuit Clerk Elmus Stockstill.
A slew of safety measures is being put into place to ensure a clean and protected voting process.
Each voter will receive an “I Voted” stylus to use for marking their choices on the touchscreen voting machines. The styluses will not be shared among voters.
“Each person getting their own will make sure we aren’t sharing and spreading germs,” Stockstill said.
Social-distancing standards will be in place, with voters standing 6 feet away from each other.
There will be a sanitizing station where voters will disinfect their hands before and after voting. Poll workers will be equipped with masks, gloves and face shields to protect themselves and others from spreading the disease.
And although Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has not issued an order requiring masks at the polls, Leflore County and Greenwood have continued their local mandates. “We still have our mask order in place, so we are hoping that citizens will honor that,” Stockstill said.
Additionally, Secretary of State Michael Watson has distributed $2.5 million to the counties to take preventive measures.
Stockstill did not readily have the amount Le-flore County received but said that those funds have been used to install plexiglass at the circuit clerk’s office for early voting and to help hire and compensate poll workers.
At a Greenwood Rotary Club meeting earlier this week, Watson predicted an “unprecedented turnout,” saying numbers suggest a higher-than-normal interest in this year’s election — not only because of the race for president but also because of the U.S. Senate rematch between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, the incumbent, and Democrat Mike Espy. If elected, Espy, a former congressman, would be the first African American to represent Mississippi in the Senate since Reconstruction.
Watson also said that many voters are expected to vote in person Tuesday, partly because Mississippi is the only state that does not allow some form of early voting without an excuse.
Still, many Leflore residents have already chosen to vote absentee, according to Stockstill.
He said there already have been around 1,400 Leflore ballots mailed in or dropped off at a ballot box, with an average of 115 coming in steadily, every day. “We already have double the number of absentee ballots compared to the last presidential election,” Stockstill said.
•Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. Twitter: @AdamBakst_GWCW
