Election plan would allow either mail or drop-off voting

Dear People of Mineral County:

The Commissioners are considering what kind of election should be held this fall and the final decision will be made at 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 21.

The meeting will be held in the Commissioners’ meeting room at the Mineral County Courthouse and you can either attend in person or virtually via Go to Meeting.

Because of the pandemic, Gov. Bullock has directed that each county make their own decisions about how the election will be held for the respective county. A proposal for our county was put forth last Friday that would allow for ballots to be sent to each current registered voter with the voter either mailing the ballot back or dropping it off at the Clerk & Recorder’s Office.

Additionally, if the voter wants to vote in person, they can do so in the office any time after they have received their ballot up until 8 p.m. on election day, Nov. 3 (the office is considered a polling place).

There is some opposition to this plan for apparently three reasons:

1. Some people want to go to the polls and vote in person;

2. A fear that someone in Mineral County might co-opt some ballots and

vote them on behalf of others;

3. That this is not an emergency, we should just wait and see what

happens this time and maybe change the method next time if things don’t work out.

We support the proposed plan for several reasons:

1. Balloting was held in this manner for the primary with no problems; 2. Voter turnout increased in Mineral County from 46% for the last presidential primary (2016) to 55.52 this time (2020);

3. Time is of the essence – the ballot preparation process starts the first week of September and the clerk needs to know how the balloting

will be done prior to then;

4. Many of our previously trained poll workers have chosen not to work the polls this year because of health concerns;

5. Even if enough polling places are identified (the schools won’t be available) now, they may not be available by November if our numbers of diagnosed covid cases increase;

6. Enough workers must be found and trained within the next three weeks and finally;

7. Should any of the poll workers be in contact with any diagnosed cases (or be diagnosed as positive themselves), they will be in quarantined for 14 days and not available to work.

Should the polling places not be allowed to open, for whatever reason, those without absentee ballots would be either forced to vote in person at the Clerk & Recorder’s Office or to not vote at all.

Therefore, unless the commissioners vote for the mail-in option on this coming Friday, we would recommend that everyone sign up to be on the absentee list ASAP, if they are not already.

Diane Magone, Superior

Ron & Linda Forest, Saltese

Deborah Lewis, Superior

Cathy Reich, Superior

Bryan & Robin Foster, St. Regis