REPORTAGE
"The municipal elections will be maintained," announced Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening. Polling stations are therefore preparing to welcome citizens on Sunday despite the epidemic which has accelerated in France. In the Haut-Rhin, one of the departments most affected by the coronavirus, Europe 1 witnessed the last preparations for a somewhat special election.
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the situation on Saturday
"A whole pharmacy"
In this delicate period, all precautions are necessary. For this, the polling stations are equipped: in addition to a ballot box, voting booths, ballot papers and envelopes, they will also have "a whole pharmacy". The box that the volunteers decided to call "security" includes "refills of hydroalcoholic gel, wipes, gloves" explains Gérard Diettel, president of the polling station. The people in charge of the count will therefore not take any risk: they will wear gloves and they will check the hundreds of identity cards and voters without touching them.
>> READ ALSO: Municipal: with the coronavirus, withdrawals from assessors "every day"
A traced course
Voters will also have many precautionary measures to follow, starting with a route already marked out. In the Haut-Rhin polling stations, citizens who have come to vote will use an entrance different from the exit, and will have to be at least one meter away from other people. In addition, one or two assessors more than for a "normal" election were requisitioned for each polling station in the department. They must ensure compliance with prevention rules, in particular the number of people in the room and the distance between them. Every half hour, tables, booths and even their curtains will be disinfected by an agent.