Are you voting on Election Day? Here’s what to expect in southwest Illinois counties
County clerks in the metro-east are bracing for the possibility of record Election Day turnouts on Tuesday with long lines in more-populated areas due to large crowds, coronavirus-related precautions and other issues.
On Thursday, St. Clair County Clerk Tom Holbrook was still encouraging registered voters to cast ballots before Tuesday at one of the county’s three remaining early voting sites if possible. They will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday.
“I predict that (on Election Day) there are going to be some of the longest lines that people have waited in at most places in their lifetimes,” Holbrook said. “We have extra workers at all the sites. At some of them, I’ve added many more to keep the lines moving.”
Madison, Clinton and Washington counties also have early voting through Monday. Polls throughout Illinois will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
High interest in the presidential race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden has led to record-breaking early voting across the country, but local officials still expect plenty of people to wait until the last minute.
COVID-19 concerns also have led a higher-than-normal number of people to request mail-in ballots. That will affect Election Day because judges at polling places will be dealing with those who show up to vote in person after deciding not to return ballots that had been requested and mailed to them.
“I expect it to go smooth,” said Clinton County Clerk and Recorder Vicky Albers, noting lines usually aren’t long in her in her mostly rural county, even with big turnouts.
“But I’m a little worried about people who already have a ballot. It’s just going to take more time for our judges to either spoil the unused ballot or to have them vote provisionally, which means that their ballot will go in a separate envelope. There’s a form to fill out, and their vote will not be counted until we are 100% sure that they haven’t mailed in a ballot. We have to wait for a time period to pass.”
Primary was COVID-19 practice run
The Illinois primary election in March gave county clerks in the metro-east a chance to practice methods of protecting judges and the public during a pandemic.
On Tuesday, county clerks in St. Clair, Madison, Clinton and Washington counties will provide face shields, masks, gloves and hand sanitizer for judges; hand sanitizer and in some cases gloves for voters; and masks for voters who don’t have them.
Some judges will be stationed behind plexiglass partitions. Everyone is being asked to practice six-foot social distancing.
“There will be signage asking voters to please wear a mask,” said Madison County Clerk Debbie Ming-Mendoza. “Of course, by law I cannot prevent (voting by someone who refuses). We have to make an accommodation, and the accommodation ... is to keep them away from other voters who are standing or sitting in a booth and put them to the side somewhere.
“I cannot force someone to wear a mask or disenfranchise a voter because he is not wearing a mask, but I have to tell you, that hasn’t happened to us here in Edwardsville, and I’ve not heard of any election judges at our other early voting centers have that concern, either. It may not even be an issue, but we have to prepare for it.”
All the county clerks said they’ve instructed judges to clean and disinfect polling places regularly, a time-consuming task that is likely to slow down the voting process. Most are requiring that pens be wiped down between uses.
Ming-Mendoza decided to buy pens that read “I voted!” and distribute them to voters as souvenirs instead of the usual stickers.
“The pens cost 8 cents apiece,” she said. “(The stickers) definitely cost less than 8 cents, but it’s a way of preventing cross-contamination.”
Judges in Washington and Clinton counties will distribute stickers, but instead of judges or voters pulling them off a sheet, voters will reach into a basket or bowl and get individual stickers that are pre-cut, if desired.
Washington County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Heseman is discouraging people from gathering around doors to socialize, which often happens on Election Day. Holbrook said most St. Clair County polling places will have one-way traffic patterns.
His message to voters: “Please wear a mask when you go. Care about your community and its citizens and your neighbors and the election workers.”
Effect of mail-in and early voting
County clerks in the metro-east aren’t sure how mail-in and early voting will affect Election Day turnout, but those with more-populated areas expect lines.
“There’s going to be long lines if early voting and vote by mail are any indication,” Ming-Mendoza said. “People are absolutely juiced up for this election. So my judges are prepared to handle voters who have a wait period.”
Heseman said Election Day in Washington County may not seem that much different than normal, even if turnout is record-breaking for the whole election cycle, because of all the people who voted early or mailed in ballots.
Heseman also wonders if some people will plan to vote Tuesday but get positive COVID-19 test results or discover that they’ve been exposed, forcing them into quarantine and taking away their opportunity to cast a ballot.
She sees that as a good reason to vote early.
“We had around 70% turnout (in the 2016 general election),” Albers said of Clinton County. “... If that trend holds, and I would think it will this year more than ever, there will still be a good turnout at the polls. Now we’re smaller, so we don’t have the long lines that they have in bigger jurisdictions, but we’ll have a steady crowd I think all day.”
Here’s what was happening as of Thursday with mail-in and early voting in the metro-east:
- Madison County — About 34,000 people had requested mail-in ballots out of about 185,000 registered voters, and about 24,000 had returned them, leaving about 10,000 outstanding; 33,013 had voted early in person.
St. Clair County — About 36,000 people had requested mail-in ballots out of about 175,000 registered voters, and more than 26,000 had returned them, leaving about 10,000 outstanding; about 24,000 people had voted early in person.
Clinton County — 3,117 people had requested mail-in ballots out of more than 26,000 registered voters, and 2,281 had returned them, leaving 836 outstanding; 1,815 people had voted early in person.
- Washington County — 1,484 people had requested mail-in ballots out of about 9,700 registered voters, and 1,268 had returned them, leaving 216 outstanding; 915 had voted early in person.
“I’m hoping by Election Day, all of (the mail-in ballots) will be here,” Heseman said Thursday.
Randolph County Clerk and Recorder Melanie Johnson and Monroe County Clerk and Recorder Jonathan McLean didn’t return calls seeking election information.
Other changes in voting procedures
The vast majority of metro-east polling places will be in their normal locations on Election Day.
Holbrook said voting booths were moved to different rooms in the same buildings in a couple of precincts and Fayetteville’s polling place was relocated from Village Hall to a nearby community center to provide more space for social distancing.
Last March, Albers switched a polling place from Murray Developmental Center to the Monken Nissan car dealership in Centralia for the primary due to COVID-19 concerns, and it will be at the dealership again on Tuesday.
“New state legislation just for this election requires that we have a universal voting site, and that will be here in our office (at the Madison County Administration Building),” Ming-Mendoza said.
People from any precinct can vote at universal sites if it’s more convenient than going to regular polling places. The sites in St. Clair, Clinton and Washington counties also will be clerk’s offices at courthouses.
Metro-east residents will be voting by filling in ovals on paper ballots that are fed into machines and optically scanned or touch screens that print out paper ballots that are scanned, as usual.
Holbrook said the average wait is three to five minutes at the three St. Clair County early voting sites that will remain open through Monday. Madison County has 10, and Clinton and Washington County have one each.
“People still have time to get out to these sites,” Holbrook said. “ ... I urge everyone, everyone, please vote early. If you haven’t voted by mail, then please vote at an early site because there are going to be delays on Election Day, just because of the high volumes.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated Sunday evening to include times that polling places will be open Tuesday.
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This story was originally published November 1, 2020 at 7:30 AM.
