Some Hamilton County voters head to the polls Tuesday. Deputy Elections Director Sally Krisel says they learned a lot about in-person voting during a pandemic last November. She says the county health department helped a lot.
"If we put booths back-to-back, we created an additional topper that would go up about two more feet, and we redid the floor plans so the poll workers would know where they should put the equipment, and where voters should enter and exit."
Krisel says there's also someone at every polling place whose job is sanitation technician. She says the poll workers are provided with PPE and cleaning supplies and are not required to get the COVID vaccine.
Fear of the coronavirus in March and April of 2020 meant many longtime, older poll workers stayed home. Krisel says recruitment efforts last summer attracted younger people, and the board had more poll workers than were needed for the November election. That's not the case for Tuesday's voting.
"There are still difficulties in getting poll workers because this is an off time, and people feel less urgency to work. Hopefully, when we get back into November we'll be back up to a full complement again."
She says during early voting this year, the board has been able to offer vaccines to voters, because the health department has been using election facilities in Norwood to deliver doses.
Voters in Cincinnati, Deer Park, North College Hill, Silverton and Harrison and a couple of school districts have issues or candidates on the ballot Tuesday.
