County Clerk, Wanda Thomas was pleased with the turnout of the training. She said, "Our school was a little longer than we were expecting. We are expecting a big voter turnout this year and we wanted to go over every aspect with the election officers."
It is required by law for every election to hold officer training. During this training, officers are instructed on the proper ways to open, close and operate the voting machines. They go over election forms and they review an actual ballot. Officers are taught how to handle write in votes and told who can and can not be in a polling place. The instructor discussed several problems and questions that might arise and informed the officers on how to deal with them. There was a swearing in ceremony that was held to make the officers official.
There are sixty election officers and nine alternates that are available in Trigg County. Law requires that each machine have four election officers running that machine. However, if a precinct has two machines, only five officers need to be available for those two machines. Trigg County will have four areas with two machines in the precinct. These are North Cadiz One, South Cadiz One and Canton One and Two. These areas have high voter turnout and two machines will help speed up the voting process.
After the Election Officer Training was held, all of the precinct voting machines were inspected. This consisted of checking all of the seals on the machine. The seals that open and close the poll, as well as the door seal to the computer to operate the machine were all inspected. The seal that prints the votes at the end of the Election Day was checked. Each counter on the machine will be checked on Election morning to make sure that the vote count is on zero. Each election officer will sign and verify. At the end of the day, the total number of voters will be printed and officers will sign again to verify. This number should match the public and protective counter.
Thomas said of the machine inspection, "It is about the integrity of the election and the machines."
Results will be brought to the Trigg County Court House on election night where they will then be counted and verified.
The polls are open from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m on Tuesday, November 2. Applications for absentee ballots were due October 26. Members of the armed forces confined to a military base on election day, who learn of that confinement within seven or less days of an election, may fill out an application to vote absentee until November 1. All mail-in absentee ballots must be received by November 2 at 6 p.m. in the Clerk's office.
Voting precincts are as followed: South Cadiz One will have two machines at the Cadiz Fire Department at 1880 Main Street. Hamtown will vote at St. Stephens Catholic Church fellowship hall. West Cadiz will be located at the Cadiz Fire Department on East Main Street. Canton Two will have two machines at Kenneth Berkley Body Shop. North Cadiz will have two machines at Genesis Express. Cerulean and Wallonia will vote in the Cerulean Fire Department meeting room. North Cadiz Two will be in the Complex Convention Center. Roaring Springs and Caledonia will be located at the Roaring Springs Fire Department meeting room. Montgomery will be at the Rocky Ridge Church basement. South Cadiz Two will vote at the South Road Fire Department. Linton and Maggie will be at the Linton Fire Department. Canton One will have two machines at the Golden Pond Fire Department. Bethesda will vote at the Trigg-Lyon Fire Department and Northwest Cadiz will be located at Senior Citizens basement on Jefferson Street.
