A Navy veteran and Republican election observer, Tim Hazelo, now faces felony charges and possible jail time after refusing to wear a mask inside a Washington state ballot-count room during the November 2024 election.
Hazelo, former Island County GOP chair, declined to comply with a local mask mandate and was escorted out. He was initially charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, but a Democratic prosecutor later upgraded the charges to include criminal trespass and unauthorized access to a voting center, potentially punishable by up to a year in prison.
Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider had instituted the mask rule after roughly half the elections staff tested COVID-positive during the August primary.
The arrest report stated that Hazelo was given a final opportunity to offer his compliance: “It was determined Hazelo would be offered one final opportunity to comply with the policy set by the Island County auditor to wear a mask in the ballot processing rooms, and if he continued to refuse to comply with the policy, he would be asked to exit the room.”
Observers in the hallway reportedly had obstructed views, but compliance with the mandate was non-negotiable.
The decision to pursue felony charges has sparked concern among conservatives and civil-rights advocates. Prosecuting Attorney Gregory Banks, a Democrat, previously posted disparaging comments about Trump supporters, calling them “racist bullies.”
Social media posts were dug up from 2019 and 2020, confirming Banks’ political bias. One of the posts read: “The terrifying part is 38% of voters don’t see anything wrong with that. Even after we flush Trump, we have a difficult job to cleanse society of their diseased thinking.”
Critics contend that Banks’ history raises questions about whether he targets Hazelo due to political bias.
Hazelo’s attorney, Austin Hatcher, noted that despite Bank’s potential political bias, the facts were clear: there was no written rule stating that election observers are required to wear a face mask.
“There’s no mask requirement on this sheet of paper. There’s no mask requirement on the official visitor and observer rules…He signed this rule sheet, he signed the sign-in paper, he openly went into the ballot processing center, and he sat down quietly, observed the process,” Hatcher noted.
Despite the facts of the case being presented, the jury found Hazelo guilty of “unauthorized access” to the voting center and criminal trespassing.
Hazelo asserted, “The fact is, I signed in. I had authorization to be there. Whether or not I followed the rules after I went in has nothing to do with whether I had authorization to be there to begin with, so ‘unauthorized access’ doesn’t work.”
Hazelo confirmed that he intends to appeal the conviction.
