John Locher / AP
In this June 9, 2020, file photo, election workers staff one of a few in-person voting places in Las Vegas during a nearly all-mail primary election.
Monday, Oct. 5, 2020 | 2 a.m.
Amid President Donald Trump’s full-scale assault on mail-in balloting in this year’s election, voters in Clark County may be facing a dilemma about whether to vote by mail or in person.
Voting in person would protect their ballot from being invalidated by Trump, who has filed suits in Nevada and elsewhere seeking to declare mail-in balloting fraudulent and further is threatening not to abide by the results of the election based on his false claims about the legitimacy of voting by mail.
With Trump targeting Democratic-leaning areas like Southern Nevada especially hard, there’s certainly an argument to be made for voting in a traditional manner.
But that’s where the dilemma comes in: If voters choose to cast their ballots in person, can they protect themselves from exposure to the coronavirus?
Yet, local residents can be assured that Clark County election officials are taking numerous precautions to reduce the risk of voting in person. In addition, officials and voting advocates say there are several steps that voters themselves can take to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
Among the county’s precautions:
• Seating poll workers behind plexiglass barriers and requiring them to wear masks. Mask requirements will be posted throughout voting sites, and all voters will be expected to comply. The county will provide masks to voters who show up without one.
• Spacing out voting machines and establishing 6 feet of space between voters standing in line.
• Providing hand sanitizer at voting centers, and sanitizing the surfaces of voting equipment between voters. Officials say voters can wear gloves, which will not impede the use of touch-screen voting machines.
Beyond that, the self-protective measures that voters can take include:
• Washing your hands before and after voting.
• Bringing your own gloves, mask and hand sanitizer.
• Bringing anti-bacterial wipes and using them before and after using the voting equipment. While there’s no reason to doubt county officials will keep the machines sanitized, an extra wiping never hurts.
• Voting early. The early-voting period begins Oct. 17 and runs through Oct. 30, giving voters an opportunity to avoid what are expected to be long lines on election night. The county is offering 35 locations for early voting. For voters who choose to cast their ballots on Election Day, advocates encourage them to go to the polls as early as possible to beat the crowds.
Another option is to hand-deliver mail-in ballots to dropoff sites at the polls, something the county has facilitated at all of those 35 early voting sites. Poll workers will staff the drop-off boxes to verify signatures, and voters will leave knowing that their ballot will be counted early. Drop-offs also will be accepted at all of the county’s 125 election centers on Election Day, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In Clark County, all registered voters will receive ballots by mail, with the county scheduled to begin sending them out Oct. 7. Those who choose to vote in person, however, can either take their mail ballot with them and surrender it at the polls, or sign an affidavit at the polling place pledging not to submit the mail ballot but vote in-person instead.
Let’s be clear: No one should go to the polls if they’re displaying signs of having COVID-19, suffer from underlying factors or are at high risk for another reason.
But for healthy voters, the precautions being taken by the county — and the precautions voters can take themselves — can greatly ease the threat of contagion while protecting the election against Trump’s sabotage.
For more information, visit the Clark County Election Department or call the office at 702-455-8683.
