A county in Washington State is reportedly dismissing election observers if they refuse to wear a COVID-19 mask.
A Republican was told to leave the elections office after not wearing a mask, KOMO News reported. Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider told the outlet that masks are only required in specific areas of the building.
Mask mandates were repealed in that state in 2022, except in healthcare settings, long-term care settings, and correctional facilities. Those mandates ended in 2023.
“The staff asked her to leave because she would not wear a COVID-19 mask. The staff of the auditor of Island County cites a section of the Washington administrative code that grants the county auditors fairly wide discretion over making the rules for who can watch and observe ballot processing and ballot counting. This runs into conflict with higher levels of law, including actual state law,” Washington GOP Chairman and State Representative Jim Walsh said. “We believe with a First Amendment right that our observer has to observe the election.”
“I believe it’s the observer’s position that the secondary location where they’re telling her she can observe is not a clear line of sight for the process,” Wash said.
“Washington Administrative Code, the bureaucratic rules allow a county auditor to set the basic policies and rules of election observer. That’s fine, but there is no specific allowance for requiring COVID-19 masks at a time when there is no widespread outbreak,” he added.
A cease-and-desist letter has been sent to Island County Elections Supervisor Michele Reagan, demanding that the mask mandate end.
The letter calls for Reagan to “cease the unauthorized imposition of a mask mandate within the Island County Auditor’s Office, polling locations, ballot processing centers, and any other facilities where poll workers, election officials, or members of the public may be present for election-related activities.”
