(Montgomery Co.) As concerns continue to grow and more Iowans are becoming infected, the Montgomery County Auditor’s office is planning for the Primary Election on June 2.
Montgomery County Auditor & Commissioner of Elections Stephanie Burke said this has been a challenge that requires Montgomery County to make some changes.
“One of the main changes will be some polling places in Montgomery County will be combined in an effort to reduce exposure to the exposure to our poll workers. Many of our loyal poll workers have worked many, many years for us and fall under the high risk category so we are cutting polling locations from seven to two,” said Burke.
Those voters that usually vote at the Elliott Community Building, Red Oak First Christian Church and the Red Oak Fire Station will be voting at the Red Oak Gold Fair Building. Any voters that vote at the Grant Fire Station and the Villisca Community Room will now be voting at the Stanton Fire Station.
The Auditor’s office will be following guidelines to ensure that voting machines are clean. In addition, the poll workers will be provided with masks, gloves and shields. Voters will each be given a new pen to use.
Burke continues to encourage citizens to vote by mail.
“We have mailed out absentee request forms to every registered voter in Montgomery County. We have had a lot of positive feedback; we have had more than 1,200 absentee request forms come in, we have been processing them and we hope to mail them out end of the week or beginning of next week,” said Burke. “I do want to let people know that the Iowa Secretary of State will be following up with an additional absentee request form, they are doing a statewide mailing to every registered voter in Iowa and it will be an absentee request form similar to what we mailed out but if you have already mailed in a form to the auditor’s office you do not need to submit another one.”
Burke said they are going to try to comply with all the recommendations from the Iowa Department of Public Health while providing in-person absentee voting. If the courthouse is closed to the public, curbside voting will be offered in the courthouse parking lot and by appointment only. If the courthouse is open to the public, voters will vote absentee in the courthouse as normal and curbside voting will still be available. In-person voting will begin on May 4.
For more information about the 2020 Primary Election or absentee voting, please call the Auditor’s office at 623- 5127. You can also follow Montgomery County Auditor & Elections Facebook page and at www.montgomerycountyiowa.com.
