ALABAM, Madison County — The pandemic is changing the way people vote.
In Madison County, there's been a huge uptick in absentee ballots for Tuesday's Primary Runoff Election.
Madison County Circuit Clerk Debra Kizer said, "The past two weeks, we have been scrambling. On this past Monday, we issued 260 ballots in one day. Yesterday we did 168, and that's a lot."
For the 2018 midterm runoff election, they sent out 484 ballots. As of Wednesday afternoon, they sent 3,002 ballots.
"I think it's due to the pandemic," said Kizer. "I think people are afraid to go to the polls. I don't blame them."
Even though they've processed over 3,000 ballots for this election, they've gotten fewer than 1,400 back. That's only 44%. The pandemic may be playing a role in why.
"You have to have two witnesses or a notary so if you're not leaving your house, it's hard to get a notary," said Kizer. "I'm telling people on the phones, if you're a couple, you can obviously get the other person to be your witness, and then, it's anybody over the age of 18 that can be a witness, so you could ask your mailman, a delivery person, your next door neighbor, your relative that might be bringing in your groceries for you."
Absentee ballots must be turned in by hand on Monday. If you're sending it through the mail, it has to be in by noon on Tuesday, which is election day.
Whether you'd rather vote absentee or go to the polls, Circuit Clerk Debra Kizer is encouraging everyone to vote.
"They want to be sure that they vote for the president, but they forget lawmakers are making laws locally," said Kizer. "It's important to have your voice heard. Those people, they really do a lot more, have a lot more control over you life than what the president has."
Thursday, July 9th is the last day to apply for an absentee ballot.
For more information, click here.
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