Amid COVID-19, Johnson County urges everyone to vote by mail — even in November
For the first time, the Johnson County Election Office plans to send out applications for mail-in ballots to every voter in the county, hoping to limit the number of people crowding polling sites during the coronavirus pandemic.
Election Commissioner Connie Schmidt is encouraging voters to fill out the application and vote by mail in both the August primary and November general elections. She said other counties are also mailing out the forms.
As concerns mount about further spread of the novel coronavirus, some have called on officials to do more to prevent the long lines at packed polling places, as Wisconsin voters experienced earlier this month.
In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson moved municipal elections from April 7 to June 2, hoping to make voting safer with social distancing and drive-thru balloting. But many are pushing lawmakers to change the state’s strict rules on voting absentee, by mail. For now, Missouri voters only have six allowable excuses for voting absentee, and the coronavirus isn’t one of them.
Kansas Democrats already changed their May 2 presidential primary to mail-in only.
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab has encouraged people to request mail-in ballots if they are worried about going to the polls during the primary or general elections. The state allows voters to request mail-in ballots without needing to provide a reason for doing so.
Still, Kansas law requires in-person voting to be offered when there are candidates on the ballot. And Schmidt says so far, it doesn’t look like state leaders will make an exception during the pandemic.
“The secretary of state has indicated to all county clerks and election commissioners throughout the state that there’s not going to be any changes to how we run elections at the state level at this time,” Schmidt told the board of county commissioners on Thursday.
She said Johnson County is forming a plan for preventing the spread of the virus at polling sites.
The county will not use nursing homes — many of which have become hotbeds for coronavirus transmission — as polling sites as it did in previous years. And the election office, Schmidt said, will implement social distancing restrictions, in an effort to keep voters and election workers safe.
“This also means social distancing the voting machines and the voters. We won’t be able to have as many voting machines in some of the locations as we’ve had in the past,” she said. “They will have to be spread out. That’s another reason why we’re encouraging people to vote by mail this time.”
She said the county will follow national health guidelines for disinfecting facilities and voting machines. Election workers will be trained online, rather than face-to-face. And the election office is working with other county departments to secure enough masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.
Roughly 400,000 registered voters in Johnson County should receive applications for mail-in ballots in mid-May, Schmidt said. Voters will be instructed to fill out the application and mail it back, with a signature and ID number.
Ballots must be mailed out no earlier than 20 days before both the Aug. 4 primary and Nov. 3 general election.
Voters who do not receive an application may still request an advance ballot. For more information, visit jocoelection.org.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 3:24 PM.
