Bartholomew County election officials are expecting to receive thousands of masks, disposable gloves and a combined total of around 100 gallons of hand sanitizer and surface disinfectant, among other items, to protect poll workers, election staff and voters during the Nov. 3 election.
Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps was notified last week by the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office that the Indiana National Guard will deliver personal protective equipment to the Bartholomew County Courthouse on Sept. 25 — about a week and a half before early in-person voting begins on Oct. 6.
The shipment is expected to include 12,700 masks for voters, 350 N-95 masks for poll workers, 26,900 disposable gloves for voters, 3,500 disposable gloves for poll workers, 24 half-gallon pump dispenser bottles of hand sanitizer, 70 gallons of hand sanitizer, 24 gallons of surface disinfectant, 72 8-ounce spray bottles with disinfectant and 1,050 microfiber towels and 40 rolls of blue masking tape to attach social distancing markers and PPE posters, according to an estimated shipment inventory provided to Phelps earlier this week.
Additionally, local election officials still have more than 20,000 wooden queue tips left over from the primary for voters to use to make their selections on the county’s electronic voting machines, Phelps said.
The Bartholomew County Clerk’s office had previously purchased 24,000 wooden queue tips from Amazon before the primary.
“I think we’re going to be in great shape again for our poll workers to have all the gear they need to safely wipe down the entire polling location, the machines, the electronic poll pads, the doors, the tables, and then as well for voters to have hand sanitizer and things of that nature whenever they leave the polling location,” Phelps said.
In May, Bartholomew County election officials received a similar shipment of personal protective equipment to protect staff and poll workers at vote centers for the primary.
That shipment included 2,450 masks, 1,500 pairs of gloves, 25 gallons of hand sanitizer, 90 smaller bottles of hand sanitizer, 23 gallons of surface cleaner, 47 smaller bottles of surface cleaner, 900 microfiber towels to wipe down surfaces and some sneeze guards.
Currently, local election officials are bracing for what they anticipate will be a record number of voters casting absentee ballots through the mail for the general election.
In June, a record 8,313 voters in Bartholomew County cast absentee ballots through the mail for the primary — more than the combined total of all absentee mail-in ballots cast in the county in every presidential primary and general election since at least 2008, according to county records.
Local election officials said the influx in absentee-by-mail ballot applications is being driven by the coronavirus pandemic, which has led many Americans to consider voting absentee through the mail instead of heading to in-person polling places. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mailing in ballots as a way to vote without risking exposure to the virus at the polls.
Currently, county election officials have decided on 12 in-person vote centers for the general election, compared to the usual 16 locations, and still expect to have enough poll workers to fully staff them, Phelps said.
Over roughly the past week the clerk’s office has received requests from “upwards of 30 or 40” additional people who want to be poll workers for the general election, Phelps said.
“We’ve of course passed those on to the political parties, but that’s great news,” Phelps said. “I think we’re going to have more than enough poll workers to implement this election in the environment we’re in with COVID.”
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Voters can register to vote, update their voter registration, fill out an absentee application, check their vote center locations and track their ballot at indianavoters.in.gov.
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5.
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