Boone County Clerk has plan in place in case severe weather hits during Tuesday’s election
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
For April 4, Election Day, the ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather team has issued a weather alert day for potential severe weather.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said there are plans in place to keep employees and voters safe.
"One of the safety measures that we have as a county is that we have ongoing monitoring with our emergency management and our public safety," Lennon said.
Lennon said each of its 44 polling locations supervisors have been provided information on emergency plans.
"We have information that we give to each of our supervisors and during training, that talks about how they should acclimate to each of the different places," she said. "And then the biggest thing that we do is make sure that we're in communication with the Office of Emergency Management."
Lennon said the majority of the storm should not affect voting. ABC 17's Stormtrack Weather Team is tracking two rounds of severe weather with the first starting between 2-7 p.m. with the majority of the severe weather coming in the second round starting at 11 p.m.-5 a.m.
Lennon said it might be a good idea to head to the voting stations early.
"The earlier that you vote, obviously, the more likely you are to miss the weather," Lennon said. "That's probably everybody's safety bet because it just is kind of a bummer to have to go out in the rain to vote."
No major delays or impacts to voter turnout are expected because of the weather. But Lennon said there may be a delay in when the results are counted, adding the first round of results may be delayed if it is unsafe for the polling supervisors to drive back to the government center. If this does happen, Lennon said they are discussing other options to finalize the voting results.
Lennon said Boone County has had 2,100 absentee voters this election. That number is up from the 1,200-1,400 absentee voters the county typically has, according to Lennon.
Polls are open 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday.
