Strict COVID-19 protocols on Election Day

The Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) has assured the public that all COVID-19 protocols will be observed on polling day.

At a news conference on Monday, Chairman of the EBC Leslie Haynes Q.C. outlined the measures that will be in place to ensure the safety of voters.

“The election workers will be wearing masks and face shields. The poll clerk will not be taking ID cards from voters but will instead request the voter to show the front and back of the card. However, the poll clerk and presiding officer will sanitise their hands after any contact with the voter.

“Voters will be required to wear masks, have their temperature taken and have their hands sanitised immediately before going into the polling station. In addition, the polling booth will be sanitised after each voter and there are large numbers of new pencils at each polling station, but if at all pencils have to be reused, they will be sanitised,” Haynes said.

He appealed to voters to follow the guidance and instruction of the COVID-19 election workers and to maintain the three-foot social distance whilst at the polling station.

“We wish to encourage voters who do not have to go to work to go to the polling station between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., and allow those who have to go to work and can’t attend the polling station in their lunch hour to visit the polling station in the early morning and after work in the evening so that we have a steady flow rather than lulls and heavy periods of voting.

“Similarly, we anticipate that the COVID-19 requirements may slow the voting process a bit, and therefore we are requesting and encouraging employers to be lenient with employees who attend the poll during the work day,” Haynes stated.

The EBC chairman added that, as is customary, anyone who is still in line at 6 p.m. will be allowed to cast their ballot.

Haynes told the media that the Commission is prepared to deal with the possibility of individuals who have high temperatures at the polling stations.

“If a person comes with a high temperature, as we did in the St George North by-election, we will ask that person to relax for a moment, take a five-minute (break) and then that person’s temperature will be taken again. If and when we take that person’s temperature for the second time the temperature is still high, we will then give that person priority.

“That person will be brought to the door, away from other voters in the line, and that person will be given priority to enter the polling station. The protocols in the polling station will apply and after the person has voted and they leave… the voting booth, everything that’s used in the polling station will be sanitised,” he explained.

Haynes acknowledged that voting may take a little longer due to the enforcement of safety protocols.

Meanwhile, Assistant Supervisor of Elections Rosalind Springer explained that with regards to sanitisation, if there is one main gate at a polling station, voters will be sanitised there. However, if there is an open space, sanitisation will be done when the voter enters the door.

Polling stations open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. (BT)