DeLand, FL - Twenty-four Volusia County Schools buildings will be used as polling places for this year's elections. Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis says the buildings will allow for social distancing to be followed during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said that any voter whose polling location is moving, will be mailed a new voter ID card in the coming days.
Using the schools as polling places went into effect on June 17, 2020, when Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order encouraged public schools to close on Election Day and allow public schools to be utilized as polling places.
With the addition of the schools as polling places, Lewis checked all polling places to make certain they could handle the number of voters assigned and adequately maintain social distancing requirements currently in place. Some polling places have been combined with others and Lewis apologizes for any convenience.
“I understand relocating a polling location may be an inconvenience; however, I do ask for compassion and patience as we all share the concerns of our voters. Our number one goal is to have a safe environment for voting,” Lewis stated.
Procedures have been updated and additional supplies are being sent to all polling sites to provide a clean and healthy space for all poll workers and voters.
At each Polling Site:
• Each voter check in-station will be spaced out to provide social distancing;
• All poll workers will be provided with masks, gloves and hand sanitizer;
• Each voter will sign a printed check-in ticket utilizing an individually wrapped pen
that the Department of Elections will provide;
• Those pens may be used to mark the voter’s ballot at the voting booth;
• All voting booths will be spaced out to provide social distancing and routinely sanitized throughout the day;
• Plexi-glass shields will be at all voter check-in stations;
• All polling sites will have sanitizer, cleaner, towels and other items to clean
surfaces, voting booths and check-in stations; and
• Voters are encouraged to bring their own hand sanitizer, mask and pen.
The Department of Elections has updated its website so voters can easily search for the
polling locations for Election Day. ther things you can do on the website is request a mail-in ballot, look at a sample ballot, or request a ballot for the visually-impaired. You can check volusiaelections.org for more information.
