BY LUCIE KRISMAN
Despite the pandemic, there has been a surge of poll workers willing to volunteer to help run in-person voting on Election Day Tuesday, local officials said.
"We actually for the first time probably in forever have just an overflow of poll worker applications," Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said. "It's been incredible. We probably have 400 more applications than people we need."
In the weeks leading up to this year’s presidential election, Shew said the county has been preparing poll workers for possible need of de-escalation on Election Day and fighting misinformation on social media about voting.
“We have just struggled so much with the wrong information that’s out there just to scare voters and make them think that their votes are not going to count,” Shew said. “Any time that you’re dealing with a person’s right to vote, there can be some conflict.”
As Eudora residents prepare to cast their votes on Election Day, Shew said the county will be prepared to handle the surge in votes smoothly even as numbers far surpass the Douglas County turnout from the 2016 presidential election.
Many voters in Douglas County have already cast their votes in advance either in person or by mailing their votes.
Shew said 31,000 advance ballots were mailed out in the county for the general election, which is over half of the overall total of 54,000 votes that the county received in the 2008 presidential election and so far almost 10,000 residents have voted in person.
"We're basically doubling anything we've ever done for advance (voting),” Shew said. “Potentially we could open on Election Day with 40,000 or more votes already cast. There’s nothing that compares to this election.”
Three polling places will be open Tuesday for Eudora residents to cast their votes in the 2020 general election.
Polling places are the Eudora Rec Center, City Hall and the Eudora Township fire station. All polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Additional information about polling precincts can be found here.
City Hall will also have an outdoor dropbox available for residents to drop off their ballots. The dropbox will be checked throughout the day until polls close Tuesday night.
All voters must bring a government issued photo ID and are strongly encouraged to wear masks. Poll workers at each precinct will be required to wear masks.
For more information about voting and Tuesday's election, visit the Douglas County website.
Reach reporter Lucie Krisman at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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