T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Belmont County Board of Elections member Lois Doneson takes no unnecessary chances Monday as the board prepares for the April 28 primary election.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – The Belmont County Board of Elections is making ready for the upcoming primary election, changed to a mail-in only format ending April 28 from the scheduled in-peron March 17 in an effort to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.

“It’s the same election, it’s just a longer period of time,” Director Kelly McCabe said when addressing the board Monday about preparations.

“We have a lot of ballot packets left,” she said. “Right away when I heard the rumors that it’s going to be an all-mail election, I contacted our envelope supplier and we have our envelopes ordered. We should hopefully get them within two weeks. I have to plan that a lot of people are going to vote, so I have to order a lot

of envelopes.”

She said it was also necessary to order 30,000 70-cent stamps for postage to voters and return postage. The cost is $29,775.

McCabe reported ordering four new scanners and ballot boxes.

“We will have more scanners for in-person voting for November,” she said.

The board also approved $26,054 for an aluminum drop box to be placed outside the building and $525 for a camera to monitor the station. McCabe said the law requires the drop box be monitored 24/7 and that it can hold 250 ballots.

There was some debate about whether to install a drive-thru instead and if the drop box could easily be removed afterward.

“We’re going to take up some space by having it there,” board member Robert Quirk said.

“If we make it a drive-up, we’re going to have to pour concrete,” board member Michael Shaheen said.

McCabe said it will not be necessary to print additional ballots.

“It’s going to be a lot more data entry and time-consuming on our part, but we’re going to use the Election Day ballots that we would otherwise have used,” she said.

McCabe said during the April 28 counting, the board will keep the building number of people present down to 10, including board members and staff.

“The director and the deputy director have a whole procedure, when they receive any mail at all, so they’re being extremely cautious,” board member Frankie Carnes said.

The next meeting will be held at 11 a.m. April 28 at the board office along U.S> 40 east of St. Clairsville.

All ballots must be turned in by 7:30 p.m. April 28. The board office can be reached at P.O. Box 994, St., Clairsville, OH 43950. Call 740-526-0188 for more information, or visit the site at boe.ohio.gov/belmont/.