REPORTAGE
The second round of municipal elections will take place on Sunday, under very high health protection. To avoid the contamination of Covid-19, the means will be greater than at the time of the first ballot on March 15, marked by abstention. In the department of Vendée, for example, the State came to the aid of the 15 municipalities concerned by this second round: an endowment of 80,000 masks, 1,700 protective visors and 800 bottles of hydroalcoholic gel. All accompanied by a manual to secure the vote.
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Masks, visors, gel for polling stations
In the seaside town of Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez, 11,000 voters are, for example, called to the polls. To protect them, as well as the 88 assessors, 150 visors, 7,000 masks, 36 bottles of hydroalcoholic gel are available.
"We are sure to have a mask, we have visors, the gel is close at hand and I can accommodate three people in the office at the same time," explains Sandrine Adrillat, head of a polling station. "It will be up to me to say to the others: 'Please wait outside'".
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Only three assessors forfeited for this second round, they were forty to withdraw for the poll on March 15. "In the first round, we had no masks, we had no visors, we had the entire period of confinement which allowed us to get ready to go," says the chief electoral officer.
Reassure voters
However, it will be necessary to reassure voters until the end, like Christelle who will vote on tiptoe. "There is still a little concern, we will say. See the people in front, see the people behind: we take our precautions," she says. "We will go there as quickly as possible, maybe either early in the morning or at noon while people are eating, to avoid the crowds. We see that there are a little more deaths, that remake a little fear and we think of the second wave, inevitably ".
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In this municipality, half of the voters are over the age of 60. Those met by Europe 1 say they are ready to vote, but without putting themselves in danger.