JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — Clark County's voter registration office has been working overtime this year, sending out thousands of absentee ballots to voters. Now one board member has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Clark County Clerk.
A positive coronavirus case is something Clark County Clerk Susan Popp said they have been prepared for.
"Trying to pull off something of this magnitude during a pandemic, we knew up front we were going to have some challenges," she said Tuesday.
Nearly five thousand absentee ballots were sent out by the Clark County Absentee Board over the weekend. Popp said the number of absentee ballot requests has far surpassed previous years.
"It may even double the amount that we've seen in any given year," she said.
Popp said the Absentee Board has been taking precautions since the start to make sure the virus doesn't spread among them. For example, each board member has one designated partner that they are teamed up with.
"We just set that in stone so that if there were any issues we knew who was going to be at a higher risk than someone else," said Popp.
Those teams are all socially distanced. Popp said masks and hand sanitizer is used and repeated disinfecting is done daily.
The board member who did test positive is now in quarantine and was not working while showing symptoms of the virus. Others on the board have been tested, some have already gotten a negative result. Popp said Local and state health officials were notified as well.
"I want everyone to feel that this is a very safe and secure process," she said, adding that despite the positive case, work won't slow down.
"We have already expanded more people involved in the process," said Popp. "But the big push we feel like is over, even though we're going to have a steady incoming and outgoing of the ballots."
For more information on how to request an absentee ballot, click here.
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