By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – As voters head to the Twin-Cities polls, McLean County’s Clerk provides some last minute recommendations for voters.

Speaking with WJBC’s Scott Miller, McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael said those wishing to cast their vote for the first time could find their polling place online.

“Hopefully, they know how to use a computer and just Google ‘where’s my polling place.’ I’ve done this myself just to see what happens, or (Google) ‘where’s my polling place in Illinois.’ It will direct you to the right links to the right county, and you can look up your polling place locations. You can call us at the (McLean County Election center) office at 1-309-488-4035. We have people manning and womaning the phones to help people as they have questions.”

Some frequent questions Michael said pertains to COVID-19 protocols at polling locations.

“In all of our locations, we took the cleaning supplies, the disinfectants, we have a special judge or judges that are assigned specifically during the day to go around and wipe down areas, and we have extra masks should someone forgot their mask. So we are doing that, and that doesn’t change too much. But, we have the X’s down on the floor for six-foot distancing. So we have monitors; the judges are doing that in addition to their regular duty’s as well. Is to try to remind folks if they are getting a little close together to separate, and you can imaging that will affect your wait line.”

LISTEN: Speaking with WJBC’s Scott Miller, McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael provides last-minute tips for voters.

So far, 12,000 McLean County residents cast their ballot by mail. Michael said those wishing to cast their vote by mail could do so as long as it’s postmarked by Nov. 3.

For those voting in person, polling places in Illinois close at 7 p.m.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].