Clerk bracing for record turnout, rents more space

Cape Girardeau County election officials are bracing for a record voter turnout this fall — both absentee and in-person. With that in mind, the County Commission voted Thursday to rent space in Cape Girardeau’s Osage Centre to accommodate voter needs.

“We had five times the amount of mail-out (ballots) for the primary election than we’ve ever seen historically,” County Clerk Kara Clark Summers told the commissioners. “And we’re probably looking at about [8,000]-to-10,000 absentee (ballots) for the November general election.”

Summers said she was already expecting a large voter turnout for the Nov. 3 election, but the state legislature’s recent addition of COVID-19 pandemic concerns to the list of reasons voters can use to request absentee ballots all but guarantees record voter participation.

“I think it will be like 85%,” she said. “Really, really high.”

Requests for absentee ballot information has been unprecedented, she said, especially with the election still more than two months away.

“Our phones have just been (ringing) nonstop, and that’s really unheard of this early prior to the election,” Summers said. “People usually don’t really get engaged in an election until maybe three or four weeks prior, (but) this year people are already engaged. And we’re seeing more registrations. Even older people who have never voted are wanting to vote in this election and are coming in to register.”

To help accommodate the expected large number of absentee voters, the commissioners agreed to Summer’s request to rent space in the Osage Centre for approximately six weeks for $4,633.20 to be paid out of the county’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act fund.

At the Osage Centre, registered voters from anywhere in the county will be able to vote “absentee” from Sept. 22 through Nov. 2.

“Then, on Nov. 3, we’ll have that location open as a central polling location and any registered voter in the county can go there and vote on Election Day,” she said. Voters will also have the option of casting absentee ballots from Sept. 22 through Nov. 2 at the county’s administration building in Jackson, at 1 Barton Square across the street from the old county courthouse.

All of the county’s regular polling locations will also be available Nov. 3 for those who prefer to vote in-person on Election Day.

“We will have the same number (of polling places) that we’ve always had,” Summers said. “We’ve confirmed that with all our locations.”

Summers said it is uncertain how many absentee ballot voters will chose to mail their ballots rather than bring them to one of the central polling places, but she said her office has received “numerous calls” from people wondering whether it will be safe to send them by mail.

“I’ve assured them that our local post offices worked closely with us in the last general election,” she said. “We had very few issues with the mail in the last general election.”

Summers said her office is adding several temporary employees to help handle the large voter turnout.

“And then we’ll also need a lot more election judges and cleaners (to help sanitize voting booths and other surfaces) for the November election,” she said.

Anyone interested in working at a polling location Nov. 3 should contact the county clerk’s office.

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