Early voting is an important part of every election cycle. This year, it will be a test for local governments as they handle one of the largest in-person events planned since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What can voters in Orange County expect to be different this year, as voter safety is a higher priority than ever before?

All the early voting locations in Orange County will be the same as they were in the primary elections in February — except for the county’s Board of Elections office in Hillsborough. Instead, Orange Works at Hillsborough Commons, located at 113 Mayo Street, will be a polling site. Carrboro Town Hall, Chapel of The Cross in Chapel Hill, the Efland Ruritan Club, the Seymour Center in Chapel Hill and University Place mall all remain as locations.

Orange County Board of Elections Director Rachel Raper says this change was made to ensure each early voting space is large enough indoors to properly distance voting stations and accommodate public health guidelines. Other coronavirus-prevention measures will also be in place, as greeters control the flow of foot traffic going indoors and offer masks to voters not wearing one, since they will be required.

Raper says safety guides will wipe down every surface of a voting station between each voter, with social distancing enforced and hand sanitizer stations available. She says the main tradition that will be changed is one that happens after a ballot is cast.

“We’re not going to be having ‘I Voted’ stickers here in Orange County,” says Raper. “You’re going to be using an ‘I Voted’ ink pen to use throughout the entire voting process. That pen is yours to use and yours to keep.”

In addition to these measures keeping voters safe, there are additional ways poll workers will be kept safe throughout early voting. Each worker will wear masks, often behind partitions to keep them separate from voters coming through the location. Raper says each polling site will also be professionally cleaned and sanitized between each day of the 16-day period.

The elections director said polling site workers were contacted in June to discuss their concerns and alert the county if they planned on not working for this election. Raper describes the group as very dedicated, since the “vast majority” decided to remain on staff.

“We explained all the processes and personal protective equipment they will have, and I think we made them comfortable,” she says. “It’s been an open conversation with our workers about what we can do, what we are doing and what we could do that would make them more comfortable. I truly feel like every worker is comfortable working and i also feel like they wouldn’t be working if they weren’t comfortable.”

Another element to early voting that will be different: more people visiting sites to drop off absentee ballots. With concern about the U.S. Postal Service being overwhelmed by ballots and requests due to concern of COVID-19, some voters may opt to submit their mail ballots in-person.

Raper says the county is preparing for a good amount of these voters. According to her, Orange County has some of the highest participation in the state for requesting absentee ballots, with around 31 percent of the county’s population requesting them. If people don’t plan on mailing back their ballots, Raper says there will be clear instructions for those voters at each voting site.

“They’ll have to wait in their own, separate absentee ballot drop-off line,” she describes. “They’ll come indoors where they’re sent to a specific staff member, whose job is to take in those return absentee ballots. Those voters will have to sign a log and place their ballot in the ballot bag.”

With early voting locations likely to see larger crowds at times, however, Raper also suggests absentee ballot voters come to the Board of Elections office in Hillsborough instead. While not an early voting location, she says the county staff has a set-up specifically to accepted completed mail-in ballots.

“I do want to encourage people who do not want to be in an indoor situation, or what could be a crowded situation, to come to our office,” says Raper. “On nice days, we have a large tent that we’re utilizing to take in those return ballots. On not so nice days, our staff is set up right in the foyer and we are limiting the amount of people who can come in.”

Early voting in North Carolina is set to begin Thursday and will end Saturday, October 31. Hours at all polling locations will run from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays – Fridays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. A full schedule can be found on Orange County’s elections web page.

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