Youâre probably in the process of figuring out what method of voting works best for yourself because the General Election is less than two months away and vote by mail ballots will be mailed to voters beginning on September 24.
The options for voting in Illinois are mail in (absentee ballot), early voting, or voting on Election Day, November 3. The problem for county clerks running a smooth election process for the General Election is not in the number of voting options. The problem is the county clerks are uncertain how election judges may react to coronavirus updates before early voting and Election Day voting in Illinois. Thatâs why interest in voting by mail is receiving significant attention. The Kane County Clerk has already received more than 75,000 online applications for Vote by Mail ballots of the 211,000 registered voters that were mailed âVote by Mailâ ballot applications.
The McHenry County Clerk reminds voters that âdue to COVID-19, all 2020 General Election voters are encouraged to cast a ballot prior to Election Day, either by mail or during early voting.â
Also the restrictions for selecting an absentee ballot have been eased, according to Joe Tirio, the County Clerk and Recorder for McHenry County. âYou no longer need an âexcuseâ to vote by mail. Any person otherwise eligible to vote in person may vote by mail,â Tirio said.
Tirio and his staff and Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham and his office are doing the leg work right now, preparing for any potential snags. In ânormalâ conditions where the county clerks are not worried about a pandemic, the potential snags for early voting and election day voting might involve computer glitches or politicking too close to a polling site. However, in a year where coronavirus related news can one day show an increase in positive cases and hospitalizations or the next day show a drop in hospitalizations and deaths, health departments canât predict with any accuracy what the atmosphere of concern will be a week or even a day before the General Election.
Tirio and Cunningham have examined scenarios of pre-election checks and run-throughs where things can go wrong. Theyâve worked out methods for quick repairs. Yet, theyâve never encountered a pandemic before.
âWe donât know what the challenges will be for election day because we are facing something new here that we didnât have before,â Cunningham said. But the most likely problem appears to be a shortage of election judges.
Tirio and Cunningham know the majority of judges are generally in their mid to late 60s. Cunningham typically has 1,500 judges ready for an election. âRight now, thereâs a pandemic of virus and a pandemic of fear. Our goal is to make sure we protect all of our judges and make them secure to come in and make the polling places secure for the voters,â Cunningham said.
The county clerks right now are in a campaign to encourage people to serve as election judges. In McHenry County, Tirio said election judges are paid $10 an hour, plus they get paid for training. âDepending on the tasks you are willing to undertake and the kind of election judge, you might get more. But it starts at about $10 an hour for a 15 hour day and about four hours of certified training for something in the neighborhood of $190,â Tirio said. The work includes setting up election equipment, signing in voters, and providing assistance to voters when itâs necessary. Cunningham said potential election judges in Kane County must be certified first. Theyâll take the three hour course, then upon certification receive $200 for the dayâs work.
As to how many election judges Kane County and McHenry County will need for early voting and election day voting, Tirio and Cunningham donât want anyone to panic that theyâd be caught short as was the case in Louisville, Kentucky about a month ago.
âThey had their primary and the population of Louisville is 600,000 people and they had one polling place,â Tirio said. One thing Tirio can say with certainty is that the November 3 General Election will not resemble what happened back in the March primary.
âWe were scrambling to get sanitation and literally sending friends and family members to every store that could supply masks and bottles of hand sanitizer,â Tirio said. The list of stores with these supplies was very short. âThis time, we have hundreds of gallons of hand sanitizer as well as gloves, cloth masks, face shields, and wipes. We even have a small supply of masks for voters who left theirs at home and are waiting to vote at the polls,â Tirio said.
Both county clerks will direct their election judges to make sure polling booths are thoroughly sanitized after each voter casts a ballot.
