City clerk says they could represent 60% of all cast
By JOSH RESNEK
With the September 1 election colliding with the Coronavirus slightly more than two weeks away, mail in balloting appears to have taken on a new meaning during this extraordinary political season.
City Clerk Sergio Cornelio is predicting that as many as 3,000 Everett voters will be bal- loting by mail in a total vote expected to be 5,000 or greater when the ballots are counted on September 1.
The city has notched well over 2,000 requests for mail in ballots as of Monday this week.
This is in line with the national impetus to vote by mail to create a healthier voting environment by skipping traditional voting places which might well serve as petri dishes for the virus if large crowds arrive to vote inside precincts on primary day.
President Donald Trump has indicated he does not trust the mail in voting effort – a belief not reflected by most voting experts and city clerks and voting officials like Cornelio.
At the end of July, the Secretary of State’s office sent out hundreds of thousands of mail in ballots to registered voters across the state, and this includes Everett.
Cornelio said the city’s Election Department will opening all the mail in ballots and counting them on September 1 at the polling places.
They will not be processed ahead of the election, he has noted.
However, whether or not the votes are counted on September 1, the votes have already been cast – thousands of them – indicating that people have made up their minds long before voting day and affirm this by sending in their ballots by mail.
This represents a large new twist to election day politics.
In theory, the election on September 1 could likely be over long before the first vote is cast at a precinct voting station.
Early voting will begin here on August 22 in the lobby of city hall.