Hermantown and Proctor Prepare for Election Day

Election day is just five days away, and cities throughout the country are preparing for the upcoming day.

NORTHLAND – Election day is just five days away, and cities throughout the country are preparing for the upcoming day.

Hermantown and Proctor are both approaching November 3rd in a careful and thoughtful manner when it comes to making sure voters are safe.

In Hermantown, there will be screen shields for election judges between them and the voters.

Hand sanitizer will also be available and the voting booths will be wiped down after each voter.

“It’s extremely busy, particularly this year with the absentee voting,” said Bonnie Engseth, the city clerk for Hermantown. “That has taken up significant amount of time for me and the other staff here at City Hall.”

Community Engagement Manager Joe Wicklund says that it’s important to keep things clean to make sure voters feel safe, especially on election day.

“You know, there’s certainly unique enthusiasm for this particular election, whether you’re talking about it nationally or some of the local races and certainly the process of voting and the safety that comes with that adds a new variable but again I think folks can feel very comfortable that at some point they’ll be in a safe place to cast their important vote,” said Wicklund.

Over in Proctor, there will be clear communication with how people enter and exit the polling place to feel safe.

“We’ve spent a lot of time and extra training,” said Jess Rich, the city administrator for the City of Proctor. “A lot of time looking at our facility in how it can be best used to accommodate voters so feel really confident going into the election that voters and judges will be safe and can feel good about casting their vote in-person on election day.”

The city administrator there also says it’s easier to bring in judges being a small town to help with the unique voting process.

“Recruiting judges in a small town never seems to be an issue, which is a huge benefit to us,” said Rich. “And yeah, it’s a lot of hands-on work that maybe a city of a larger status has more staff help to help them.”

In Proctor, almost one-third of voters have indicated they voted early or will be voting early in the next several days.

There are more than 2,000 registered voters in that city while in Hermantown, there have been almost 3,000 absentee ballots with 6,200 registered voters, meaning half of the voting population is voting absentee.