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The 2020 Presidential Election will be like none before.

More than 100 million early votes have been cast and millions more of the country’s 320 million people are expected to either flood the nation’s polling sites or ooze in like a slow-moving mud slide.

Pike County Probate Judge Michael Bunn said lines could be slow at polling places around the country and asks for patience in those incidences.

“All poll workers have been trained and are ready for Pike Countians to come vote,” Bunn said. “We can’t require the wearing of masks but we will have a limited supply of masks and gloves for those who want them. It will be up to the voters whether or not to wear masks.”

Bunn said voters who have concerns about using available pens to mark their ballots may bring their own pens.

“But the pens must be black, not blue,” he said.

Bunn said the poll workers are not required to wear masks but most all of them have indicated they will.

“Masks, face shields and gloves are available for all poll workers if they choose to use them,” he said.

Voters are encouraged to get in and out of the polling sites as quickly as possible with no hanging around.

Bunn said all polling sites expect to be busy.

“We have 23,000 registered voters in Pike County and 1,300 absentee ballots have been requested,” he said. “While that seem to be a rather large number, percentage wise, it’s not that many.”

No matter the number of voters who turn out to vote in the 2020 Presidential Election, Bunn said expectations are that Pike County voters will conduct themselves, “as always, with mutual respect.”

State Representative Wes Allen encourages voters to go to the polls.

“Voting is a right that most people in the world would give anything to have the right to do,” Allen said. “Take a few minutes today (Tuesday) and go to the polls and exercise your Constitutional right to determine who leads our government at the federal, state and local levels.”