The Starke County Election Board is making its final preparations for Tuesday’s primary. In addition to the personal protective equipment supplied by the state, Clerk Bernadette Manuel says she’s also bought 12,000 q-tips for voters to use.
“They can use the q-tip to push the buttons on the machine instead of their fingers, so that is less contamination all the way around,” Manuel told the rest of the election board Wednesday. She added that poll workers will have to return any unused PPE, so it can be used in November’s general election.
The final poll worker training session was scheduled for Thursday. Board members said there have been some challenges with poll workers backing out. The time commitment seemed to be a bigger concern than the coronavirus. Manuel said the political parties have been able to quickly find replacements, but she does have the authority to fill any last-minute vacancies. The clerk suggested the possibility of using multiple shifts in the future, to attract more poll workers.
The election board also discussed the process of transporting the voting machines and other equipment to and from all of the polling places and raised the possibility of buying or borrowing a small trailer for future elections.
