As a measure to prevent infection at polling stations in the House of Representatives elections, Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, has to prepare more than 100,000 pencils for voters to fill out ballots, and staff are busy sharpening the pencils.
In Ota City, as a measure against the infection of the new coronavirus, voters will not reuse the pencils they use to fill out ballots at polling stations in the House of Representatives elections, and even in early voting, voters will be asked to bring back the pencils they used. I am.
For the election day on the 31st of this month, 103,000 pencils were prepared, and at the city hall, four staff members were busy with the work of inserting each one into an electric pencil sharpener.
Of these, 3,000 were ordered from Minamisanriku Town, Miyagi Prefecture, in an attempt to support reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
In addition, the pencil says "Goodbye Corona to a new future, Ota City," and it cost more than 3 million yen to purchase the pencil and cap.
The work of sharpening the pencil will be completed in 27 days, and after that, it will be distributed to 69 polling stations in the city.
The Ota City Election Commission says, "I want voters to be able to vote with peace of mind. I also want to help support the reconstruction of the Great East Japan Earthquake."