Should you be required to wear a mask to vote?
Ahead of polls opening for early voting, members of the Knox County Health Board debated whether face coverings should be mandated for voters casting their ballots.
Their argument is a question for the entire state: Would a mask requirement for voting infringe on peoples’ rights or would peoples’ rights being infringed upon if masks weren’t required because, without them, voters might feel unsafe at the polls?
Most mask ordinances across Tennessee, including Shelby County’s, don’t apply to churches and schools, where much of the state’s voting will take place.
In the City of Memphis’ mask ordinance, churches are also exempt, but educational institutions are defined as essential businesses, according to Dan Springer, city spokesman. Members of the public are required to wear face coverings inside of or in line to enter essential businesses, according to the ordinance.
In Knox County, officials took no action, hoping the governor’s office would provide clarity in the coming days.
That clarity won’t be coming.
When asked whether masks will be required for voters this fall, Gov. Bill Lee’s office only encouraged voters to wear them.
“After consultation with election officials, the right to vote should not be conditioned on wearing, or not wearing, a face covering, although both the governor and state election officials do strongly encourage voters to wear face coverings when going to the polls,” Lee’s press secretary Gillum Ferguson said in an emailed statement Friday.
Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office responded similarly, with spokesperson Julia Bruck reaffirming the state’s request — but not mandate — for people to wear masks while voting.
The discussion is happening as the White House suggests in a leaked report that cities and states in “red zones” (like much of Tennessee) implement stricter regulations to fight surging cases.
Polling places fall through cracks
Across the state, mask mandates are typically waived at places of worship and state and federal government facilities, including schools.
In some places, like Knox County, this isn’t a big deal for early voting: Only one of the 10 is not covered by a mask mandate. However, it could be an issue elsewhere.
In Shelby County, 20 of the 26 early voting sites are inside churches. Officials there have said “voters will be encouraged to wear masks inside the polling place” and that “voters who are under a mask ordinance or order are expected to comply with that order.”
Fast forward to Election Day and polling sites across the state (like Shelby, Knox and Davidson counties) are nearly all located in churches or schools.
Polling locations will do their best to provide extra safety by offering hand sanitizer and — like in Shelby and Knox counties — a limited supply of masks, officials have said.
Your rights vs. my rights
In the Knox County meeting Wednesday, Dr. James Shamiyeh, a board member and critical care physician at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, said a busy polling place would be “the exact example of a situation” where the county could see a significant number of COVID-19 infections. He argued that not mandating masks was unsafe.
Knox County Health Department Director Dr. Martha Buchanan countered with an opposing viewpoint — if someone was required to wear a mask, they may opt to not vote at all.
“Obviously infringing on someone’s right to vote is a big deal and we don’t want to do that and don’t want to be seen as doing that,” she said.
Dr. Richard Pacelle Jr. is the head of the University of Tennessee’s Department of Political Science and an expert on civil liberties. He said the question on requiring masks to vote is a difficult one, but ones that comes down to asking what rights are being infringed upon.
If would-be voters believe wearing a mask infringes on their right for freedom of expression, he said, that only goes so far.
“Well, your right to swing your arm ends with the other person’s nose ... I think if I was a person that was willing to wear a mask, my argument would be them not wearing a mask is infringing on my right as a voter because all the evidence shows you can get sick with contact with people within six feet if they don’t have a mask on.
“I think it’s a tough call one way or the other, but I think most states, most courts would say you have to wear the mask to go in there,” he said.
Absentee voting a possibility
All of this can be avoided for voters who wish to vote by absentee ballot. Simply submit an application to the state by the July 30 deadline. Included in this election’s acceptable reasons for an absentee ballot is concerns about COVID-19.
In Shelby County, typically the election commission processes up to 1,000 absentee ballots for an election like this August. This year, they had already received applications for more than 13,000 by Thursday, with two weeks left before the deadline.