Unidentified speaker at Clay County meeting urges residents to vote, says commission took no position on amendments

An unidentified speaker at a Clay County commission meeting on Friday urged residents to participate in the upcoming election, reminding voters to request absentee ballots or use early voting sites and warning that processing on Election Day will be longer than usual.

The speaker emphasized the importance of being prepared, saying, "Hopefully, you've got an absentee ballot, and you've ordered it. It's not too late to request one or pick one up and vote it. Or you can go to the early voting sites throughout the county." The speaker also cautioned that "when the ballots [are] read ... there's gonna be a lot of people that will see those for the first time," and that the length of time a person votes is likely to be "really, really long" compared with previous elections.

The speaker said the county has seen "a lot of new registrations, a lot of people not familiar with how to vote," and warned that unfamiliarity could slow voters at the polls. On the subject of ballot measures, the speaker said the commission "has not tried to take a position on any of them," describing the process as set up "to let government work" and calling it "very effective."

The remarks included a brief defense of the commission’s record. The speaker said, "this county commission has made monumental progress as evidenced by the issue of the bonds coming down and by the infrastructure improvements that we have committed to in this board." The speaker closed the daytime session with a plea to voters: "please vote. Only vote one time and vote your conscience."

The meeting was adjourned to its evening zoning session.

Speakers quoted in this story are identified in the meeting transcript only as "Speaker 1"; no full name or formal title was provided.