Carbon County is preparing for the upcoming presidential election and that means having additional security measures in place for the safety of staff and poll workers.

On Thursday, Jennifer Ketchledge, director of elections, announced that additional security is being set up at the elections office, both on the day of the election, as well as the day after.

“I just think it is kind of important to have some kind of security,” she said.

Commissioners’ Chairman Mike Sofranko added that anyone entering 44 Susquehanna St. to go to the election office on Election Day will have to go through a metal detector, because of the politically charged nature of this upcoming election.

“Expect somewhat of a delay when you are delivering the ballots at the end of the night,” Sofranko said, noting that this is not only for poll workers, but anyone coming into the building.

In addition, the county maintenance department will be installing additional lighting in the parking area between 44 and 76 Susquehanna St. buildings for the safety of all walking in that lot at night.

“Our election workers need to be safe coming into the building,” he said.

Ballot returns

Ketchledge also reminded voters that mail-in and absentee ballots can only be dropped off by that voter.

“We have had people trying to drop off ballots, and they are not the person that vote,” she said. “They are trying to give us their mother’s or son’s or daughter’s, and we cannot accept that by state law.”

She stressed that completed mail-in ballots can either be returned via the mail or by visiting her office at 44 Susquehanna St. during office hours.

There are no dropboxes for ballots in Carbon County.

Ketchledge also said that while people may just want to use pens on the ballots, she urges them to use a black marker when filling out the ballot.

It was noted that the marker is bleeding through, however, Ketchledge said the ballot is designed in a way so that the bleed-through will not affect anyone’s vote on the opposite side of the paper.

“They were built so that does not compromise any votes on the other side,” she said, adding that the marker is necessary so it shows up when the county adjudicates the votes in the system.”

Poll workers and voters

The county election board on Thursday approved the voter registration totals for the upcoming election. They are Democratic, 14,636; Republican, 23,222; and Other parties, 7,317; which bringsthe total of eligible voters to 45,175.

This is down slightly from the 2020 presidential election, where the voter total was 46,916; but up from last year’s general election, which included 42,688 eligible voters.

The election board also approved the filling of several vacancies of precinct election officials, and Ketchledge noted that with the action, all poll worker spots have been filled.

Training for poll workers is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 23 and 10 a.m. on Oct. 24 to allow poll workers an option on what day works best for them.