Cumberland County Administrator of Elections Jill Davis said Tuesday’s election a success after a fire decimated their primary facility weeks before voting.
Davis said the department lost every piece of equipment intended for use at the precincts during the blaze. Davis said the staff worked tirelessly to ensure the election cycle could proceed.
“They, they did, they worked extra hard, long hours, along with our election commissioners spent a lot of time in making sure that we had everything that we needed for the precincts,” Davis said.
Davis said the office has successfully replaced all essential election equipment, though some furniture items like tables and chairs still need to be addressed. Davis said the department was able to complete every necessary task for a successful election despite the shortened timeline following the disaster.
“I tell you what, we, we have got everything done, so there’s not anything that we did not get done,” Davis said. “I’m sure we’ll have to still replace some other equipment that we’ve lost as far as maybe tables and chairs and stuff like that, but as far as equipment, we got everything in and we have no regrets.”
Davis said the recovery effort involved cooperation from the county mayor, the county commission, and multiple emergency agencies. Davis said local citizens also reached out to offer their assistance to the election office.
“Well, I just would, would really like to say thank you for, for the county mayor and for our county commission for allowing us to have this building,” Davis said. “And of course, the county and city fire departments that helped in putting out the fire and the EMA, the EMS, every, every agency that in the county helped us and I just uh, even the citizens called to volunteer to help with everything. So uh, I just want to thank Cumberland County in general for helping us.”
“Well, you know, of course, since the fire, we have lost all of our supplies that go out on election day and we, you know, it’s very challenging to getting those supplies back in, but we were successful in doing that,” Davis said.
Davis said the search for a new base of operations led the team to the Kawasaki building, which was selected for its size and proximity to the former office. Davis said the temporary location provided the necessary storage space to house incoming materials from vendors.
“Well, we just the, you know, the very next morning, we just sent a staff out looking for places to, to go and see if anything was available and we called several places and this, the Kawasaki building, was available and it seemed to be the, the best option at the time and and we’re, it’s worked out great,” Davis said. “They have plenty of storage here. It’s a, it’s a large building and it’s not very far from where our old location is and it’s worked out pretty good.”