HOLLIDAYSBURG — More than 8,000 Blair County voters have asked for absentee and mail-in ballots to use in the upcoming presidential primary.

With two more weeks available to make that kind of request, it’s likely that about 10,000 county voters will stay home on June 2 while others head to the polls, possibly in a new location.

Blair County usually staffs 93 precincts on election day but for the June 2 primary, it expects to reduce that amount by 15 to 20 percent, county Director of Elections Sarah Seymore said Friday.

Some polling locations will change, she said, because some building owners asked the county to find another location in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve been calling every polling place to make sure they’re going to allow us to use their location,” she said. “And some have been getting back to us and asking us if we can find someplace else.”

In other cases, a poll may be in a new location because it was consolidated with another one based on the available staff.

“We had about 10 pollworker teams who decided not to work this primary,” she said. “So we’re consolidating some precincts, but only where we absolutely had to.”

While recruitment of poll workers has been an ongoing challenge for many counties, including Blair, the loss of people to staff the polls this year can be attributed to the coronavirus. Many of the people who manage the polls, which open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. are retired and older. That puts them among those with higher risks of contracting COVID-19.

The county’s list of polling sites may be ready as soon as Tuesday when the elections board is scheduled to convene and make preparations for the primary.

Once approved, the list will be published in the Mirror and is generally posted on the county’s website. The state also offers online resources to help voters find out where they should report to cast a ballot.

As for those who want to vote in person, Seymour encourages them to make plans to do so.

“People can be assured that we’re doing everything to keep them safe,” she said.

The county’s highway department, which maintains and distributes the voting table set-ups and related furnishings, has been acquiring shields to separate those staffing the polls from the voters.

Masks, gloves, sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer and sneeze guards will be distributed to polls.

“We’re also instructing poll workers to put lines on the floor, ones like you now see in stores, to keep voters six feet apart,” she said. “If there is a heavy turnout, that could mean some voters will have to wait outside.”

Voters also have the option of bringing their own blue or black pen to mark their ballots. Those who don’t can depend on the poll to provide a pen which Seymore said will be sanitized after every use.

State leaders are advising counties that the money they spend on safety and security measures will be covered with allocations the state receives from the federal CARES Act.

“We are in an unprecedented time and are facing a major public health crisis in a presidential election year,” Gov. Tom Wolf said Monday during a teleconference with Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar. Together, they stressed the option of voting by mail or voting in person.

“Our priority is to ensure the integrity of our elections while also keeping Pennsylvania voters safe,” Boockvar said.

The changes associated with this year’s primary have been labor intensive for the county elections office, Seymore said. To address the flood of requests for absentee and mail-in ballots, her office secured help from four county employees who work in other departments.

“We’re trying to keep up with the requests … but they keep coming,” she said.

Before the state introduced the mail-in ballots with no excuse, Seymore said her office typically fielded 800 to 1,000 requests for absentee ballots in a presidential election year.

After the state approved that option, she estimated that about 4,000 voters would ask for an absentee or mail-in ballot. But that was before the coronavirus pandemic, she said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

Important dates

Monday, May 18 — Last day to register or to change name, address or party

Tuesday, May 26 — Last day to apply for a mail-in or civilian absentee ballot

Tuesday, June 2 — Last day for mail-in and civilian absentee ballots to be submitted by 8 p.m. at the Blair County Courthouse

Tuesday, June 2 — Presidential Primary