By Greg Oliver

Courtesy The Journal

goliver@upstatetoday.com

PICKENS — New Pickens County voter registration and elections executive director Travis Alexander understands the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having statewide on the June 9 primary.

There will be an influx of absentee ballots as more voters are reluctant to participate in person due to the pandemic. Another challenge is finding poll workers and managers, since many longtime volunteers decided not to take part this election cycle for fear of exposure to COVID-19. Health and safety protocols will be required at precincts for those voting in person.

On top of all that, Alexander and the county elections board will be overseeing their first election in Pickens County. Despite those challenges, Alexander said Monday that he is excited.

“It is a very big challenge ahead, but the board and staff are all diligently working on ensuring that the election process here in Pickens County runs smoothly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Alexander said. “Many board members have given extra time by helping out in the office and visiting poll sites, and various Pickens County departments are also helping to ensure this election runs smoothly by assisting in various capacities.”

Alexander is no stranger to working with elections, having spent 12 years with the Greenville County Voter Registration and Elections Office. During that time, the Clemson University and Charleston Southern University graduate acted as precinct and poll worker coordinator.

During his time in Greenville, Alexander said he gained experience working with staff in different areas of voter registration, absentee voting and with new voting machines. In his new position, Alexander said his main focus is the upcoming primary and the high volume of absentee voting to ensure things are running smoothly in the midst of the pandemic.

“We will be proposing some precinct changes, because some of the senior facilities have closed or are quarantined,” he said. “So we should be getting some information out on where we’re going to move those precincts. We want to be sure the June 9 primary and the possible runoff go as smoothly as possible.”

Alexander said he is also looking for poll workers. The in-person poll clerk, or precinct supervisor, training classes began last Thursday.

“Many of the clerks showed great knowledge with our new paper-based voting machines,” Alexander said. “But there is still a need for more poll workers at some of our polling places for June 9 and the possible runoff on June 23.

“Anyone who wants to be a poll worker or supervisor, we are still training those individuals, and poll manager training is going to be primarily online this year due to COVID-19,” Alexander said. “We will bring in our poll clerks for training and have a couple of trainings next week to go over some of the things we will do differently due to social distancing and sanitizing and things like that.”

Alexander said he has seen an increase in absentee voting in Pickens County due to recent legislation allowing all registered voters in South Carolina to cast absentee ballots.

“A major increase in absentee can add a challenge for a smaller election staff,” he said. “But several departments at the county office have helped ease that increase.”

As of last Saturday, Alexander said, 2,579 Pickens County registered voters had requested absentee applications. Of that number, 1,249 had already been returned to his office.

“We are sending those ballots out daily,” Alexander said, adding that absentee ballots need to be back in his office by 7 p.m. the day of the primary.

Anyone needing more information on the upcoming primary is asked to call (864) 898-5948.