COVID-19 and the 2020 Elections

Elections officials across the country are striving to provide a safe and secure voting experience while maintaining safety regulations and guidelines encouraged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With the pandemic, voting procedures have changed to accommodate individuals and ensure that eligible voters can participate. 

Safety Procedures for In-Person Voting
The Oklahoma State Election Board provides resources on the safety procedures that are in place for polling locations. These polling locations adhere to the CDC's recommendations to limit and manage the spread of COVID-19 while allowing people to vote. Examples of some of the precautions are listed below:

• "Social distancing guide marked with tape six feet from Election Officials table."
• "Voting booths placed six feet apart."
• "Officials seated six feet apart and six feet from voting machine."
• "Voting equipment will be wiped down with alcohol wipes before and after voting machine startup."
• "The State Election Board has provided masks, eye protection, and gloves for poll workers for their protection."
• "Poll workers should wash their hands frequently throughout the day."
• "Poll workers should avoid contact with each other and and with voters."
• "Voters are asked to put their ID on the table to be validated. The poll worker should look and verify the identification without touching it."
• "Poll workers should wipe down polling equipment every hour."
• "Common surfaces such as voting booths and tables should be disinfected more frequently."
• "Oklahoma allows a no-excuse absentee voting."

The Oklahoma State Election Board is doing everything in their power to make in-person voting as safe as possible. However, Governor Stitt passes a bill allowing a no-excuse absentee voting for those that want to remain cautionary and mail-in their ballots.

The web site of the Oklahoma State Election Board provides additional information concerning COVID-19 and the 2020 Elections, such as, "new alternatives for absentee voter verification," "qualify for physically incapacitated absentee ballot," "safety procedures for processing absentee ballots," "ensuring absentee ballots get to nursing home voters," and "COVID-19 provisions in Senate Bill 1779."

The National Conference of State Legislation (NCSL)
A great deal of voting procedures/decisions are made by local jurisdictions (government) or the executive branch. The NCSL provides a list of legislative action, executive action, and state election official action for each state. The NCSL stated Oklahoma's state election official action- "The Oklahoma State Board of Elections declared an election emergency requiring counties to postpone local elections that were held on April 7. Additionally, the Secretary of State tolled the circulation period for initiative petitions; a near deadline for signatures will be calculated once the governor lifts the emergency declaration."

The NCSL also provides policy options, blogs on how COVID-19 effects elections, and additional resources concerning COVID-19 and voting.

BALLOTPEDIA

The BALLOTPEDIA web site states that it is "the digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections." The goal of the website is "to inform people about politics by providing accurate and objective information about politics at all levels of government." This resource provides information on how local, state, and federal governments are responding to voting changes in response to the pandemic. It provides information to keep individuals up-to-date with the happenings in their states. The web site provides information on the following topics:

• Recent Developments
• Summary of Developments
• Voting Procedure Modifications for the General Election
• Absentee/mail-in voting procedure modifications for the general election
• Candidate filing modifications
• Primary and special election modifications
• Political party event modifications
• Proposed legislation
• Relevant litigation
• General Resources

BALLOTPEDIA's goal is to provide coverage on how the pandemic effects the 2020 elections and campaigns. The wide array of resources helps individuals stay in the loop about the various modifications implemented, so that individuals can still practice civic engagement.

~Emily Hancz