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Montgomery County Elections Staff Prepare For Weekend Crowds At Early Voting Site

Karen Kasler
/
Statehouse News Bureau

The Montgomery County Board of Elections is expecting long lines this weekend as many voters take advantage of the chance to cast ballots early. Tens of thousands of people have already voted in person and by mail, and turnout is breaking records ahead of Election Day.

On Thursday, the board reported a total of 43,289 early in-person votes. The county mailed out 102,407 absentee ballots and had received back 85,128.

"That's huge," says Board of Elections Director Jan Kelly, and turnout numbers are much higher than during the last presidential election.

Kelly says poll workers are preparing for big crowds again this weekend, and COVID-19 health and safety precautions will be strictly enforced.

“We are concerned about our staff as well and the health of our staff. So we have a personal protective equipment, gowns and masks, et cetera," she says, "and double coverage for them to be put in that position.”

Masks are required to enter the Board of Elections site. Staff will have paper masks on hand for anyone who needs one. And curbside voting will also be available.

Kelly says elections workers are still processing absentee ballot requests. The county drop box, located at the Board of Elections, will be available through Election Day.

For more information on how to vote, visit voteohio.gov.

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Jess Mador comes to WYSO from Knoxville NPR-station WUOT, where she created an interactive multimedia health storytelling project called TruckBeat, one of 15 projects around the country participating in AIR's Localore: #Finding Americainitiative. Before TruckBeat, Jess was an independent public radio journalist based in Minneapolis. She’s also worked as a staff reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio in the Twin Cities, and produced audio, video and web stories for a variety of other news outlets, including NPR News, APM, and PBS television stations. She has a Master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She loves making documentaries and telling stories at the intersection of journalism, digital and social media.