In Lee County, about 69% of registered voters participated in early voting. Election day is in full swing and WGCU's Andrea Perdomo caught up poll worker Jesi Cason during her break earlier today.
Here is a transcript of their conversation:
Perdomo:
For how long have you been a poll worker in Lee County?
Cason:
This is my second time being a poll worker anywhere, and I did the August primary this year. That was my first time.
Perdomo:
How has it been for you so far today?
Cason:
Today has been really great actually. We opened the polls at 7:00 AM. I get here at 5:30, and we had people lining up by 6:15 AM ready to vote, ready to get it over with. We had a little bit of a line maybe 20 people max when we actually opened the polls, and they got cycled through pretty quickly. We haven't really had a line since then. It's been really fast, and I'm at one of the bigger precincts at the Riverside Community Center. It's a nice big space, so plenty of room to spread out, cycle people through quickly, get them in, get them out. That sort of thing.
Perdomo:
Since you guys opened up this morning have there been any other wait times?
Cason:
No, not at all.
Perdomo:
All right. In and out, like 15 minutes you would say? Or-
Cason:
Yeah, I've actually been just keeping a quick tally in my head. I would say average time from stepping in to stepping out is eight minutes. Yeah.
Perdomo:
What kind of COVID-19 safety precautions are you guys taking your polling location?
Cason:
We're obviously encouraging everyone to socially distance. We've got markers on the floor to encourage that six foot minimum distance apart from people, some verbal prompts, just reminding people to try to step back if there is a line, which there really hasn't been. The poll workers, of course, all have our masks on. I'm working outside, because I'm the deputy. I'm not really wearing a mask, because I'm by myself outside the whole day. But everyone else is wearing one. Of course, we have hand sanitizer all over the place. Yeah.
Perdomo:
You started at 5:00 AM. For how long do you think you'll be there today?
Cason:
The polls close today at 7:00 PM, and I have to stay until the last voter leaves. Then I have to stay until the clerk leaves, so I could be here as late as 8:00 or 9:00 PM. However long it takes the clerk and everybody to get everything packed up.
Perdomo:
Oh, wow. Is this your first break that you've taken so far today?
Cason:
Yes. I just sat down and I scarfed my lunch down. Thankfully they assigned two deputies to this location. I've got a buddy out there watching the table for me now, and then once I go back she can go take a break.
Perdomo:
And people are adhering to the social distancing, and the measures that you guys have in place currently?
Cason:
I would say so, for the most part. Some people don't want to wear a mask, and I always tell them, "You don't have to, but we would prefer if you would." But for the most part I haven't seen too much of people infringing on anyone's space. It's been respectful, and pretty calm here. The only thing I would notice is we have some folks who are campaigning across the street from the polling location, and we've had a few people express concern, asking if that's allowed. And it is allowed as long as they're outside 150-foot radius of the polling station. I think some people are confused about what the rules are on that, who's allowed to be where, how close can they be, what counts as voter intimidation versus just campaigning, that sort of thing. I thought that was interesting.
Perdomo:
As a deputy, what are your duties?
Cason:
My duties are to make sure all the poll workers all swear an oath when we first get here in the morning promising to hold a free and fair election, and to be nonpartisan, and be respectful of the voters. That's a very important duty. Then otherwise my main job is to make sure that everyone outside the polling location is adhering to the rules, including not coming within that 150-foot radius of the polling location if you're planning on doing any campaigning, making sure there's nobody doing any intimidation, or acting funky. I keep an eye on all that. At the end of the day, I'm there just to help the clerk make sure everything gets put away, and all the votes get put where they're supposed to go. All that stuff.
Perdomo:
Have you had to remind the campaigners that they need to be mindful of that 150-foot distance?
Cason:
I have, but they've been very respectful about it. I think there was some confusion about where exactly the 150-foot line was at first. Because I guess in previous years it was 100 feet, so they were able to be closer. They were a little confused. I just went out and gently reminded them to scoot back a little bit, had to take some campaign signs off some cars because they didn't know they couldn't park here with their campaign signs on their cars. That's not allowed either. They've all been really good, and follow the orders once they knew what they were.
