Bartholomew County election officials are expecting to receive masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment to protect poll workers and election staff during in-person voting for the June 2 primary.
Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps said the Indiana National Guard plans to deliver two skids of personal protective equipment on Thursday — including 2,450 masks, 1,500 pairs of gloves, 25 gallons of hand sanitizer, 90 smaller bottles of hand sanitizer, 23 gallons of surface cleaner, 47 smaller bottles of surface cleaner and 900 microfiber towels to wipe down surfaces.
In addition, the Bartholomew County Clerk’s office has ordered 24,000 wooden queue tips for voters to use to make their selections on the county’s electronic voting machines without having to physically touch the buttons on the machines, Phelps said.
Local election officials said they will not have enough gloves or masks to distribute any to the public, Phelps said.
“(The Indiana Secretary of State’s office) felt pretty confident that they could get us pretty much any of the supplies that we needed,” Phelps said. “Gloves were a little bit of a hotter item in demand than the masks and the hand sanitizer. Overall, for Bartholomew County, it looks very fair. It looks very accurate.”
Besides the personal protective equipment, poll workers and election staff plan to place floor markings at vote centers to help ensure voters stay 6 feet away from each other as often as possible, Phelps said.
In-person early voting will take place at Donner Center, 739 22nd St., and the Bartholomew County Courthouse, 234 Washington St., from May 26 to May 30 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Phelps said. The final day of early voting will be June 1 at the courthouse from 8 a.m. to noon.
The Bartholomew County Election Board is expected to determine the number and location of election-day vote centers on Thursday, Phelps said.
Phelps, however, has repeatedly urged voters to vote by mail in the primary to help prevent spreading COVID-19 in the community. As of Friday afternoon, around 2,500 Bartholomew County voters had submitted mail-in ballots for the primary — the most mail-in votes for any election in the history of Bartholomew County.
The Bartholomew County Clerk’s office has sent out more than 5,400 absentee ballot applications and anticipates around 6,000 to 7,000 votes by mail for the primary, Phelps said.
“We are recommending that folks keep their social distancing when they go to vote in person,” Phelps said. “Keep 6 feet apart. Wear a mask if you can. That’s for the voters’ protection, that’s for the folks in line’s protection. If you have gloves, bring them. I can’t make that a requirement because …we don’t have that authority, basically.”
