Danville, Va. – Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Danville Electoral Board encourages voters to use absentee voting by mail for the City Council and School Board elections to be held on May 5.
Absentee voting, which begins Friday, is a two-step process. Voters first must complete an application for a ballot. Voters may request an application for an absentee ballot be mailed to them by calling the local office at (434) 799-6560 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Also, voters may complete an application for an absentee ballot online at elections.virginia.gov by using reason code “2A – My disability or illness.”
After the application is received and approved, the actual ballot will be mailed to the voter. Voters who choose the absentee option should do so as soon as possible so they can get their ballots in time to return them by mail by Election Day.
For voters who want to cast ballots in-person on Election Day, Danville Registrar Peggy Petty said a plan is in place for voting at the polls. The plan includes spacing voters as they check-in.
“When we hand voters a ballot, they will pick up a clean ink pen and go to a table to vote, put the used pen into a container and then insert the ballot into the voting machine,” Petty said. “We will not give out ‘I Voted’ stickers to avoid a point of contact.”
Also, building custodians will be asked to deep clean the facility before Election Day.
“Election workers will wipe down tables and door handles and wash their hands at least every hour,” Petty said. “Workers with gloves will take used ink pens from the containers and spray them down with disinfecting spray and wipe them dry with paper towels. We cannot allow voters to use their own pens as gel ink or felt tip pen ink would stick to scanner glass.”
Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Virginia has postponed its upcoming statewide convention due to the coronoavirus.
The party announced Thursday that it was postponing the event — which was set to take place in early May in Richmond — to a later date.
The state party was expected to make President Donald Trump its official pick to be the Republican nominee in the 2020 presidential election at the convention. Party members were also set to vote on a party chairman and other party positions.
Republicans are also set to pick GOP candidates in congressional races at district-level conventions in April and May, though those will also likely be postponed. Virginia has two highly competitive congressional races this year in districts currently held by freshman Democrats.
The party is having a June 9 primary to pick its U.S. Senate candidate. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, is seeking a third term.