COVID-19 Precautions at Delaware's September 2020 Primary: What Poll Workers Saw

This page describes a study of COVID-19 measures used during the 2020 election season. It reflects the guidance and conditions of that time.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed how Americans voted: the methods, the number and type of polling places, and procedures inside them. CDC, working with the Election Assistance Commission, issued interim guidance for election officials, poll workers and voters. Its guiding idea: the safest voting options are those that reduce how many voters gather indoors, by offering more ways to vote and longer voting periods.

To see how that guidance worked in practice, CDC joined the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and the Delaware State Election Commission to survey poll workers from the state's primary on September 15, 2020.

The survey

Of the 2,498 poll workers at 434 polling places, 1,595 with valid email addresses were invited to an online survey on September 23–26; 568 responded and 522 were eligible. They answered questions about supplies and setup, training, their knowledge and attitudes, and the precautions they saw others take.

Who they were. The median age was 59; 42% were over 65. Most (57%) were male, 48% were non-Hispanic White and 42% were retired. Thirty-two percent reported one underlying condition linked to severe COVID-19 and 27% reported two or more.

What polling places did

Training and knowledge

80% received COVID-19 training, most often on hand hygiene, masks and what to do if a poll worker had symptoms. But only 30% of those trained were taught how to assist voters who had symptoms or known infection. Still, 93% answered all three transmission questions correctly, and 94% felt they knew how to keep themselves safe.

What they saw

• Masks: 99% said most fellow poll workers wore masks and 98% said most voters did. But incorrect wearing (not over both nose and mouth) was more common among voters: 73% rarely or never saw it among poll workers, versus 54% among voters.
• Hand sanitizer: seen often among poll workers (78%) more than voters (43%).
• Cleaning: 91% often saw poll workers clean high-touch surfaces and equipment.
• Distancing: 91% often saw voters keep 6 feet apart.

Exposure

• 72% had contact within 6 feet with more than 100 people on election day, and 27% had close contact (within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more) with more than 100 people.
• Only 19 respondents (4%) knowingly had contact with an ill person. Fifteen wore a mask, but none wore all the protective equipment the guidance recommended — respiratory protection, face shield, gown and gloves.

Busier and quieter polling places mostly looked alike, except that busier ones more often had separate doors and saw more incorrect mask use.

Context

Delaware recorded 177,529 ballots in the 2020 primary, nearly twice the 94,039 of the 2016 primary. In-person election-day voters were 101,135 (57%) in 2020, against 89,280 (95%) in 2016. Delaware had required masks for people over 12 since April, and in a July survey about 79% of residents in every county said they always wore a mask in close contact in public.

What the authors concluded

The survey showed CDC's polling-place guidance was feasible and acceptable. It also pointed to improvements:

• The number of close contacts shows polling places can act as mass gatherings — supporting absentee voting, longer hours and other options that thin crowds.
• Barriers and separate entrances help distancing, though building limits may make them hard.
• Ill voters need safe options such as curbside voting, and poll workers helping them need recommended PPE and training; where there is community spread, ill voters should be assumed to have COVID-19. Keeping everyone safe while letting ill voters vote is essential to protecting voting rights.
• More messaging on wearing masks correctly is needed.
• Recruiting younger poll workers could reduce the share at high risk.

Limitations: respondents were 21% of all poll workers and excluded those without email; results may not apply elsewhere or to other elections; only election-day in-person voting was studied; and answers rely on memory and may lean toward what seems expected.

Sources

• Leidman E, Hall NB, Kirby AE, et al. "Adoption of Strategies to Mitigate Transmission of COVID-19 During a Statewide Primary Election — Delaware, September 2020." Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 69(43), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.