Sanitizing voting booths after every use and opening more polling sites to prevent un-socially distant lines are just two of the changes Bay Area counties have made to accommodate the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One coronavirus protocol election officials are not allowed to employ: the requirement to wear a mask — though poll workers can offer face coverings and even request their use of people who show up barefaced. Polling places are stocked with personal protective equipment for any voter who needs it.
San Mateo County Chief Elections Officer Mark Church says the county is prepared for maskless citizens who want to exercise their right to vote.
“At each vote center, we do have a separate area set aside from the other voters, where they can go,” he said. “They are separated from everyone else if they absolutely refuse to wear a mask.”
Sonoma County trained its poll workers on “how we can still allow voters who don’t want to wear a mask to vote,” Deva Marie Proto, the recorder-assessor-registrar of voters, said. “We offer voting outside. We offer face shields. But everyone has been very respectful and interested in voting so far.”
Marin County has stocked its voting centers with sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer, spray cleaner disinfectant, gloves, extra masks for voters and “everything else we could think of to make everybody feel safe,” said Lynda Roberts, registrar of voters.
In San Francisco, voters who refuse to wear a mask or a face shield are asked to vote outside.
“Curbside voting,” said John Arntz, San Francisco’s director of elections. “We can’t stop someone from voting, even with the pandemic health and safety protocols in place … . We have to allow people to cast their ballots.”
So far, there have been no reports to election officials of mask issues at the polls.
— Marco Siler-Gonzales, Nina Sparling, Jon Brooks (@jbrooksfoy) and Kevin Stark (@starkkev)