Coronavirus may have disrupted classes and events, but it hasn’t stopped Gainesville residents from voting early.
Early voting hasn’t decreased, said TJ Pyche, the spokesperson of Alachua County’s Supervisor of Elections office. About 4,700 people have voted early this year, which is 600 more than those who voted early in 2016.
The first case of coronavirus in Alachua County was confirmed Tuesday night, said Paul Myers, the county’s director for the state health department. UF is also asking staff to prepare to switch its classes online.
“I don’t think we have any way of knowing if the coronavirus will affect voting, but our office is making preparations to prepare for it if it does,” Pyche said.
Pyche also said voting stations are being wiped down and cleaned under guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pyche said there aren’t any provisions for quarantined voters, but if conditions were to get to that point, the office would reach out to the Florida Department of State and assess.
Steven Noll, a UF history professor, said the 1918 flu pandemic was the last time a virus like coronavirus affected so many. It caused 50 million deaths, compared with the more than 4,000 who have died from coronavirus.
Noll said that the coronavirus could affect voting this November, but not the students.
“I don’t think students are worried about it at all, they’re much less worried than old people,” Noll said.
Contact Anna Wilder at awilder@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @anna_wilder.
Alachua County residents show up to vote in the Florida primaries at the Reitz Union Sunday evening.
Anna Wilder is a second-year journalism major and the criminal justice reporter. She's from Melbourne, Florida, and she enjoys being outdoors or playing the viola when she's not writing.
