KEEP IT SAFE

A coalition of voting rights and public health groups on Thursday rolled out guidelines to help protect voters from catching and spreading COVID-19 while exercising their right to vote this year.

The Healthy Voting Guidelines, rolled out initially for states holding primaries in June, are the product of the nonpartisan coalition We Can Vote, and were drafted by groups including the American Public Health Association and the Center for Tech and Civic Life.

According to the authors, the recommendations are the the nation’s first healthy voting guidelines, and details ways that voters can exercise their rights at the polls while taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The guidelines address both mail-in and in-person voting for over a dozen states and the District of Columbia. Recommendations include wearing a mask and standing six feet apart from other voters if going to the polls in person, voting during less busy times and washing your hands after dropping off a mail-in ballot.

The guidelines also give instructions on how to send in a ballot by mail.

Mail-in voting is an issue that has become a divisive topic following pushback from President Trump and other Republicans, who have argued a spike in mail-in voting could lead to increased voter fraud. There is no evidence, however, that fraud is any more likely with mail-in voting than in-person voting.