The Lyon County Election Office took the primary election cycle to Flinthills Mall on Saturday.
The Election Office used the mall to hold its now traditional offsite voter event. County Clerk Tammy Vopat says the event now fills a niche for voters as part of the advance vote process.
Less than 50 people used the event to vote, well below the normal numbers of 200 to 350. However, Vopat expected a lower turnout — in general because of the coronavirus pandemic and specifically because of the number of mail ballots requested the past few weeks. The Election Office mailed around 3,500 ballots to registered voters, over 10 percent of the county’s total population of around 34,000 people and about 15 percent of the county’s registered voter total of around 20,000.
The next election event is the in-office advance vote starting at 8 am Monday and continuing through noon Aug. 3. Vopat will have more details on KVOE’s Newsmaker 2 segment at 8:20 am Monday.
Election Office workers installed several steps to protect against coronavirus, including extra hand sanitizer, sanitizing stations after every voter, the removal of two voting machines and the use of disposable, take-home stylus pens. Those steps will be present during the in-office advance vote process and the official primary election.
