Guilford County Board of Elections approves early-voting plan
By Yasmine Regester, Peacemaker Staff Writer / July 9, 2020
The Guilford Board of Elections held a special meeting Tuesday, July 7 to address logistics and early voting for the upcoming Nov. 3, 2020 General Election that will occur as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. The board voted 3 (Dems) to 2 (Republicans) along party lines to increase early voting hours and voting sites. Board members are (L-R): Eugene Lester (R), Kathryn Lindley (R), Jim Kimel (D), Carolyn W. Bunker (D) and Rev. T. Anthony Spearman (D). Photo by Ivan Saul Cutler/Carolina Peacemaker.
With early voting for the 2020 Elections slated to start in the next few months, Guilford County Board of Elections officials met on July 7 to discuss how that might look amid COVID-19 concerns.
The main issue of concern was varying location sizes and how to comply with social distancing guidelines, in particular, at small sites like the Jamestown Town Hall.
The board approved a proposal in a 3-2 vote, to include 25 early-voting sites throughout the county, an increase of early voting hours, and sanitation measures to abide by social distancing rules. Under the tentative new plan, early voting would span 17 days, starting on October 15 and ending October 31, which also includes Sunday voting.
Guilford County Board of Elections Executive Director Charlie Collicutt noted that the plan has to be reviewed by the State Board of Elections before taking effect.
Rev. Steve Allen, Greensboro Branch NAACP member and pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church expresses his desire that the board open as many early voting sites as possible to make it easy for people to freely practice their right to vote. Photo by Ivan Saul Cutler/Carolina Peacemaker.
“We can’t make people vote by mail or make them vote in certain locations or in split times,” said Kimel. “We still have voters we have to take care of. We should make sure we give everyone the opportunity to vote.”
Officials also discussed how to accommodate long lines on the last day of voting. Board member Kathryn Lindley said she was concerned the county could open itself up to liability if they aren’t able to provide adequate safety measures for voters.
“Some places have one way in and one way out. There’s no way to truly social distance,” said Lindley.
Board members also suggested the use of larger spaces like the gymnasium on the GTCC Jamestown campus or High Point’s new baseball stadium.
“I’m in favor of providing more opportunity for the voter than anything else. I don’t think we ought to make size such an issue. It’s incumbent upon the board to make sure that we go and visit the sites and become creative enough to deal with whatever we need to deal with as a board,” said board member Rev. T. Anthony Spearman.
According to Collicutt, the county could hire a professional cleaning company to disinfect the voting sites every day, at $1000 per site per day. The county has received about $330,000 in grant money that would be used to cover the cleaning bill. In addition to cleaning and the required voting machines and tables, each site would also need PPE (personal protection equipment), plexiglass barriers and extra volunteers.
“We’re not going to wait until the end of the night. There will be cleaning as we go throughout the day,” said Collicutt.
For more information on early-voting sites and mail-in voting visit, http://www.guilfordcountync.gov/our-county/board-of-elections.
