Cass County Seeing Increased Turn Out for Early Voting

By Jeremy Coumbes on October 28, 2020 at 2:41pm

Early voting in Cass County continues at a strong pace, as the County Clerk says her office is ready for an expected higher turnout on Tuesday.

Cass County Clerk Shelly Wessel told the Cass County Star Gazette that as of Monday nearly 20 percent of registered voters in Cass County have already cast their ballot with 1,492 of the county’s 7,880 registered voters had been processed.

Wessel says her office has seen a dramatic increase in mail in voting versus the 2016 election, with over 900 mail in ballots already received compared to just 264 total four years ago.

As of Monday, 1,163 mail in ballots had been issued in Cass County, with tomorrow, Thursday, October 29th being the last day the Clerk’s Office can mail out a ballot.

Wessel says even with the higher early and mail in votes, she expects a high turnout on Election Day, and her polling places are prepared for the volume. She says she is confident she has more than enough staffing including a list of substitute election judges in the event of a judge not being able to work or becoming ill.

Wessel also told the Gazette, polling places in Cass County will be in compliance with the COVID-19 Compliance Plan with election judges wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, and continually cleaning and disinfecting all voting materials.

She says masks will be available for voters who do not have one, and any non-compliant voter refusing to wear a mask will be asked to wait outside of the polling place until all mask wearing voters have have finished and exited the facility.