BOSTON — Results:
Voting in a pandemic will mean some changes at your local voting poll place.
City and town clerks certainly put a lot of thought into how they were going to tweak the process for voting to keep everyone safe, which means you will notice some changes.
Voters were dropping off their mail-in ballots in person at Quincy City Hall Monday afternoon. In-person voting for the primary starts on Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. Voters seem somewhat confident in the new system.
“This is all we got, this is what we are doing,” said one Quincy voter.
The in-person voting will look the same minus a few pandemic alterations, right down to how they plan to keep the shared pens virus free. Quincy City Clerk Nicole Crispo showed Boston 25 the infrared technology they have to clean surfaces.
[ What to watch for in Tuesday’s Mass. primary elections ]
“We have a wand, a UV wand that’ll sanitize all of the pens,” said Crispo.
The poll workers checking you in will have protective glass similar to what you see at the stores.
In Quincy, they are not marking out six feet spaces because they are not anticipating long lines. The general rule of thumb is the average person’s wingspan is six feet so you can use that for ballpark spacing to determine enough social distancing.
“We’ve done away with the check out table which I think is going to be a lot easier,” Crispo said. “We don’t want people to congregate in the polling place.”
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The volunteers who typically staff the check out table will handle the voting booth sterilizing between each voter. City and town clerks say they had to get creative to find volunteers because many are choosing not to do the election work this year because some people did not want to do the election work because of the virus.
“I can’t thank them enough,” said Crispo. “You need a lot of people to make the Election Day a success.”
You will be allowed to bring your own pen and something like a clipboard if you prefer not to touch any common surfaces at the polling place.
[ How to vote by mail, find ballot dropboxes and track your ballot in Massachusetts ]
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