The Final Word – Clerk’s Staff Makes Voting Easy

by Diane Lowrey
R-T Editor
As votes continue to be counted in other parts of the U.S., I want to recognize the efforts of our local election officials in Grundy County, who made sure the 2020 General Election went off without a hitch.
The staff in County Clerk Betty Spickard’s office, along with those individuals serving as judges on the actual voting day, did their best in making sure that every qualified voters was able to cast a ballot while dealing with the difficulties of the COVID pandemic, which resulted in many voters having to rethink how they would cast their ballots this year.
I took advantage of early voting by going to the courthouse and casting an absentee ballot. It was a very simple process, conducted in a manner similar to what I would have experienced had I waited until the actual election day to go to the polls – I showed my ID, they gave me a ballot, I voted it, Courtney Campbell put the ballot in the absentee envelope and sealed it to be counted on election day. And I feel very confident that I was one of the 4,487 Grundy County voters whose ballots were counted when totals were announced on Tuesday and that my votes were counted exactly how I had cast them.
Local voters had other options available to them if they felt uncomfortable voting in person on Tuesday, including mail-in ballots that many did take advantage of, as well as the drive-in voting the county clerk’s office offered on Saturday afternoon prior to the election for those who had last-minute disruptions, including being quarantined, that would not allow them to vote on election day. As a result of the efforts by the county clerk’s office, Grundy County had 76 percent of its registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s election.
I appreciate the hard work by the county clerk’s office in making sure this year’s General Election went as smoothly as it did. I know there was a lot of preparation that went into making sure voter rolls were correct as well as providing as many opportunities as possible for registered voters to get their ballots cast and counted. Thanks to Betty and her staff, Grundy County was able to have an easy and accessible election.