Supervisor of Elections: you may want to bring your own gloves/wipes/hand sanitizer when you vote

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

Two people reached out to me today to report on the lack of disinfection supplies at early voting locations. Larry Glisson said that he voted at the Supervisor of Elections office, and he was “surprised” that they didn’t have any plan for disinfecting pens between uses. He also didn’t see any bottles of hand sanitizer or wipes, although he acknowledges they may have been there.

Steve Price, Co-Pastor of Trinity UMC in Gainesville, wrote on Twitter, “Very concerned about lack of #COVID19 precautions at Millhopper voting site today. No evidence of volunteers sanitizing between handling of drivers licenses, no wiping of screens between voters using finger to sign name and no hand sanitizer anywhere for voters to use. Changes needed before Tuesday.”

As pastor of a large church, Price has been studying best practices for minimizing transmission of the virus, so he was also surprised that these best practices hadn’t been implemented at the polling place.

I reached out to TJ Pyche, the Director of Communications for the Supervisor of Elections, and he responded, “Hand sanitizer bottles were sent to Millhopper. It would have been placed at the entrance and at the check-in table, per instructions from our office. Regarding cleaning the pens, we are sending out alcohol disinfectant and disposable cleaning supplies to every polling place. Election workers are being instructed to use them to clean the pens and other items. Gloves are being provided to the election workers who handle voters’ identification cards.

“We’re working to respond to the evolving needs of the polling places, the election workers and voters. Even with the steps we’ve put in place, we encourage voters to bring additional items for their personal use if they desire to. “

Bottom line: you may want to bring your own gloves, wipes, and/or hand sanitizer when you vote on Tuesday.