“Special care must be taken with the electronic voting equipment and ballots,” Amy E. Kirby, a member of the CDC’s Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force, said during a teleconference on Aug. 24. “We encourage [poll workers] to put signs up discouraging voters from disinfecting the machines themselves.” This is because certain disinfectants—and disinfecting practices—can actually damage the voting equipment, Kirby says. She recommends that officials contact the machine’s manufacturer so they can give “appropriate disinfection procedures for the equipment that’s used in their jurisdiction.” The CDC only recommends the use of disinfectants from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) List N, which is a list of products that have been found to kill the coronavirus.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb However, not all of these disinfectants are safe to use on every type of voting machinery. That’s why the CDC has partnered with the Election Assistance Commission to create a list of cleaning recommendations for the various types of equipment. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. The CDC is also pushing efforts to “minimize surfaces that are frequently touched by multiple people,” Kirby says. For example, they recommend any documents that need to be reviewed, like photo identification, should be placed on a table for review instead of passed from person to person. And shared items like pens and ballot sleeves should be replaced with a single-use option if they cannot be disinfected between every use. Kirby says the CDC encourages regular hand-washing and the use of hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol when washing isn’t possible. For Election Day, the organization recommends the provision of hand sanitizer in multiple places throughout the polling location—but not in the voting booth itself. “We do say not to put hand sanitizer at the actual voting station itself,” notes Kirby. After all, hands still wet with hand sanitizer can damage electronic voting equipment, as well as smear the ink on paper ballots. And for more sanitizing recommendations from the agency, check out these 23 Cleaning Tips From the CDC You Need to Follow.
