COVID-19 Protocols Helped Mitigate Risk On Election Day, But Maskless Voters Posed A Challenge

Sacramento-area residents who voted in-person on Election Day took some level of health risk by getting in line with others, but county representatives say vote centers had safety protocols in place that they feel reduced the spread of the virus. 

“Overall we were really pleased with our voters’ compliance,” said Sacramento County spokesperson Janna Haynes. 

At some sites visited by CapRadio reporters Tuesday, people went unmasked while waiting in line to vote, but then put on a face covering before entering the voting center. In California, vote centers can’t turn people away for not wearing a mask. 

Elmo Banning, 64, said he felt comfortable being in line at Citrus Heights City Hall without one.

“I’m not a no-masker, I’m just an ‘outsider’”, he said. “Right now, I’m far enough away.”

Research shows the virus spreads less effectively in open air, but health experts still recommend wearing a mask and standing apart from others, even when you’re outside. 

The state required vote centers to take certain precautions, such as creating separate check-in areas for registration and drop-off, directing people to stand six feet apart in line, and limiting the number of people who could be inside at a time.

“Significant reductions in capacity ...contributed to longer wait times at several of our locations that are smaller and already had a reduced capacity,” Haynes said

She says voting centers also had to work with some voters who refused to wear a mask or couldn’t wear one for medical reasons. In some cases, that meant setting up outdoor booths, or just asking people to wait in line while unmasked voters went inside by themselves.

Carolyn Cass managed the voting site at the Muslim Community of Folsom. She says most people who weren’t wearing masks in line agreed to put them on before they went in. 

But there were situations where voters went inside without a face covering. Cass says they adjusted the spacing to accommodate.

“If there’s only one or two voters in there, they will vote here on one side and he’ll be all by himself on the other side of the room, so they’re totally away from each other.”

COVID-19 case numbers related to the polls could be hard to parse out from transmission during Halloween and a general increase in Sacramento’s cases, said county spokesperson Janna Haynes.

“We won’t know for a couple weeks if we have any kind of cluster breakouts that are specifically connected to Election Day,” she said. “People need to be really vigilant about answering questions on contact tracing in the event that they were to be positive.’