Volunteers in Waynesboro prepare ahead of Election Day

WAYNESBORO, Va. (WHSV) - Registrars across the Valley are gearing up for Election Day with the help of volunteers.

The City of Waynesboro will have about 50 to 60 volunteers November 2.

Eight people have been lending a hand over the past month for early voting.

“I’ve had excellent volunteers,” Lisa Jeffers, Director of Elections for Waynesboro, said. “With early voting, it’s increased the turnout, so they’re here on a daily basis, and they are an excellent help.”

The volunteers in Waynesboro have been helping out with elections for several years. Jeffers says working during early voting has given them even more experience.

“They’re experiencing more issues than the normal just one day Election Day, so they’re even learning more and by the time that they do Election Day, they will know pretty much every scenario there is,” Jeffers said.

And no matter what, the Department of Elections always comes into Election Day with back-up plans.

“We have to have paper poll books in case our electronic poll books don’t open or are not functioning, and we also run a list of every registered voter to have a back up, so it’s always redundancies, and a lot of it I don’t go into because of security issues,” Jeffers said.

She says so far they have collected around 2,700 votes. She expects voter turnout to be around 48 percent, which is similar to the election four years ago.

The last day to vote early is Saturday until 5 p.m. Jeffers says when you come to vote, you should bring an ID, but if you do not have one, you can sign a form swearing that you are who you say you are and you’ll still be allowed to vote.

If you requested an absentee ballot, you can submit that at the polls on Election Day, but if you do not bring it with you, you will have to do a provisional.

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