Is voting in person safe during a pandemic? It can be if you’re careful, experts say
As the Nov. 3 presidential election nears, so too do the concerns surrounding safe voting during a pandemic. The long lines and crowds that usually frequent voting centers will be more than just that — they will be health hazards, especially for those vulnerable to coronavirus infection.
But experts across the country agree that voting in person can be safe, as long as proper precautions are taken to mitigate viral spread. Many liken the risks to those of grocery shopping.
“Voting in person is comparable to going to a grocery store: You can mitigate risk of exposure with masks, ample sanitizer and layout/traffic flow that minimizes direct contact,” Marta Wosińska, deputy director at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, told Politico. “And just as with a grocery store, the risk is greater for workers who are there for longer and are more likely to have direct contact.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agrees — the more and longer a person interacts with others, the higher their risk of contracting the coronavirus. Locations that solely offer in-person voting on Election Day are considered higher risk because “there will be larger crowds and longer wait times,” the agency said.
That of course depends on a number of factors, including your personal risk, how many COVID-19 cases are in your area, if waiting areas are indoors or outdoors, and the precautions you and your voting center will execute to ensure everyone’s safety.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said in-person voting can be done safely.
“I think if carefully done, according to the guidelines, there’s no reason that I can see why that not be the case,” Fauci told ABC News’ Deborah Roberts during a National Geographic event in August.
But if you are considered vulnerable — 65 years of age or older and those with medical conditions — then submitting an absentee ballot or voting by mail might be the safest option, experts say.
“I put voting in the same category as getting kids back to school — these are things that should be really important to us,” Dr. Marybeth Sexton, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Emory University in Atlanta, told CNN. “So this is a time to continue to limit large gatherings, avoid in-person dining and not be at bars and parties, because the level of virus in the community is going to determine how safe it is to vote in person. So everything we can do to make the community safer ahead of time will make voting safer.”
How to stay safe from coronavirus while voting in person
First and foremost, stay home if you’re sick or if you’ve had recent close contact with a coronavirus-infected person. And before arriving at any polling location, make sure you’ve washed your hands or used hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
Before you vote in person: The CDC suggests checking in with your voting location in advance to ensure requirements and rules haven’t changed. Make sure you have all necessary documents and that your voter registration information is correct.
If your state offers it, experts say to participate in early voting to avoid long lines and large crowds typically seen on Election Day. They also advise to vote at “off-peak times, such as mid-morning,” the CDC says.
“If driving to the polls and your schedule allows, monitor the voter line from your car and join when it’s shorter,” the agency added.
If possible, review or complete a sample ballot at home to familiarize yourself with it to cut down exposure time to others at the polling location. Bring your own pen if allowed, too, so you don’t have to share with others.
If you’re planning on delivering your mail-in ballot in person, health officials say to apply hand sanitizer immediately after opening a mail slot or touching a ballot box in case a sick person came into contact with it.
While waiting in line: The CDC says to avoid greeting others with physical contact such as handshakes and hugs, as this breaks social distancing guidelines and greatly increases the chances of the coronavirus latching onto you.
Always maintain at least a six-foot distance between you and the person ahead and behind you in line, wear a mask and cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your elbow, the CDC says.
If lines are held outside, risks of contracting COVID-19 are lower than if they were inside, especially if the building has poor ventilation. If possible, try to visit a voting center that offers outdoor waiting areas.
While voting: It’s important to remember to wash your hands or apply hand sanitizer before and after submitting your ballot. That’s because you will likely be in contact with public pens, registration desks, door handles and electronic voting equipment with buttons.
The CDC says to avoid wiping down or disinfecting voting machines yourself because they may be damaged by the cleaners; make sure poll workers are available to do it.
The Brennan Center for Justice and the Infectious Diseases Society of America say safe voting locations include those with proper ventilation and adequate space between voting booths separated by plexiglass barriers.
Some examples include school gymnasiums, community recreation centers, convention centers and large parking lots. Polling locations with separate points of entry and exit to minimize crowds are good to look for.
“Voting is a low-risk activity, on par with other low-risk and critically important activities we all need to do like grocery shopping or going to the pharmacy. I will be voting in person this year, masked up, because the risks are very low (and the stakes are very high),” Joseph Allen, associate professor and director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Politico.
This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Is voting in person safe during a pandemic? It can be if you’re careful, experts say."
