Wood County Commission, Rhodes talk primary election

PARKERSBURG -- Wood County officials are continuing to prepare for the upcoming primary election while continuing to deal with the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wood County Clerk Mark Rhodes gave a demonstration of the county's new voting machines before the Wood County Commission on Monday.

The West Virginia Primary Election is scheduled for June 9.

Early voting will start May 27 at the Judge Black Annex. The county's satellite sites will start doing early voting on June 2 at the Vienna Community Building, Williamstown High School, Mineral Wells School and Lubeck Elementary.

The Williamstown site was originally going to be Williamstown Elementary, but had to be changed to the high school as preparations have already begun to start moving to the new elementary school. Furniture and other items are currently being put in the gym at the elementary school where voting would have taken place, officials said.

The commission has approved those locations, with the option of adding more if needed.

Those sites would also be the locations where voting would occur on Election Day for the county as officials had to consolidate precincts due to the availability of poll workers.

The locations would be open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on that Saturday. On Election Day, they would be open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Rhodes demonstrated the county's new voting machines and scanners that will be utilized with the upcoming primary election.

The scanners will also be able to read and log the absentee ballots that have already been sent out to 16 percent of the voters in the county, Rhodes said.

A poll worker will activate the machine and call up the precinct and ballot, based on political party, for the individual voter. Once that is confirmed, the poll worker will step away and the voter can fill out the ballot how they want.

At the end, the filled ballot will be printed out and entered into the scanner. The scanner also has a box that will collect the ballots. Once filled that box can be removed, locked and secured through security measures.

People can cancel the ballot during the voting process if they chose the incorrect party and have the proper ballot installed, before a physical copy is printed and counted. Officials believe this will make the canvassing process easier.

Closing the polls and signing off when the polls close will be easier, officials said.

There is a space available to add write-in candidates.

"You can skip anything you want to skip," Rhodes said.

The machines are electric with a two-hour battery backup so people can continue to vote if there is a power interruption, Rhodes said, adding that the voting machines are not connected in any way to the internet.

"It is basically a big electronic pencil," he said.

The voter's name does not go on the ballot itself.

Right now, Rhodes is planning to have 25 machines set up in the Judge Black Annex when early voting starts as well as two scanner machines.

Depending on available space, Rhodes is planning on a similar setup at each of the satellite voting locations.

Overall, there are 300 voting machines in the county and 68 scanners – one for each precinct.

Officials said June 9 would still be considered a holiday as the holiday designation moves with the actual Election Day.

Officials have already sent out applications to all registered voters to see if they want to vote by absentee ballots, due to health concerns.

Right now, the county has enough poll workers so the polls can be adequately manned on Election Day. Some have already dropped out as many of the older people who have traditionally manned the polls have health and safety concerns in light of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Rhodes said they have enough people committed right now to work at the consolidated polling places, around 200 people. However, he has already had some call in, who initially said they could work, but are now saying they won't be able to due to health concerns.

Rhodes said he believes other poll workers might have to drop out and wants to have alternates on hand in case they are needed.

He would like to have people signed up so they can be trained during sessions planned for next week. Interested people can call the county clerk's office at 304-424-1850 and leave their contact information.

County officials are still planning to reopen county offices on Monday as per an agreement with the cities of Parkersburg, Vienna and Williamstown, under guidance from the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department to maintain social distancing and other health recommendations.

Although local testing numbers were not available, state numbers were.

Statewide, 62,885 tests for COVID-19 have been administered with 1,362 positive tests and 54 deaths, according to information from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services.

"That is still under the 3 percent that Justice wants to keep going (with state reopening plans)," Commission President Blair Couch said. "We are well under that."

Testing is expanding as more nursing care and daycare facilities are being tested, However most other testing is still being done when someone shows symptoms.

"We are testing a lot more people," Couch said.

Eagle Point in Parkersburg had 161 tests done and no positives. At the Willows, 135 tests were done with no positives. A total of five facilities have been tested in Wood County with no recorded positives, Couch said.

National Guard personnel are still in the area doing tracing work on infections with more expected to be added, he said.

Commissioners said there is a lot of misinformation and rumors are being spread about infection locations and more on social media and elsewhere. They are encouraging people to check where their information is coming from. Couch said DHHR and the MOV Health Department are returning calls about what they are seeing.

Officials are concerned about possibly seeing more cases as things open back up as people are tending to relax their guard a bit in regards to dealing with COVID-19.

The county recently received the temperature guns they ordered, but officials are uncertain how effective they will be as tests runs with the equipment have ended up with varying and inconclusive results.

As county facilities prepare to open Monday, Couch wants employees to keep track of how they feel. If they are not feeling well, he doesn't want them to come in, he said. He wants employees to make that call the night before or at the beginning of the day.

County facilities will have signs up about social distancing and other things in place.

Personnel will be in place at Magistrate Court to help control the flow of people, with some guidance from the health department, officials said.

"The waiting rooms and the court rooms are going to be the priorities," Wood County Sheriff Steve Stephens said.

Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com