The hope is that by then we will have an effective vaccine. But in the Interior Ministry they are preparing a plan B.
– The Ministry of Social Affairs and the Interior is currently considering how elections can be held in a situation where corona infection is still widespread in society.
– Among other things, any precautions in relation to the number of people at each polling station and protective equipment and whether it may be necessary to take measures that require legal authority, the ministry writes.
– The ministry is following the situation, and the framework must be adapted to it, it reads.
The possible measures may also become relevant if a parliamentary election were to be called prematurely. This may take place with three weeks’ notice.
In Denmark, however, the election machine is so well-oiled that it should not give rise to difficulties in adapting the electoral system to the given situation, it sounds from two researchers.
– It is clear that if the country is completely closed down when there are elections, then we will be in a difficult situation, says Professor Ulrik Kjær from the Department of Political Science at SDU.
– But I consider the organization around the Danish voting to be so well-functioning that you can easily make adjustments.
There are obvious measures that could reduce the usual congestion at the polling stations, says Roger Buch, municipal researcher at the Danish School of Media and Journalism.
– Every election night around 7.30 pm, there will be huge queues at the polling stations, so you could expand the opening polls or have more polling stations, he says.
Source: The Nordic Page