Oct 27, 2020 5 min read

One visitor to the second floor described a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd that gathered Monday outside the Washington County elections office to vote early in person, drop off ballots or apply for the mail-in version before today’s 5 p.m. deadline.

“They may as well go to the polls,” she said.

Masks are required in the Courthouse Square office building, and signs are posted to inform the public.

And, although masks are encouraged at the polls, if someone arrives without a face covering at a polling on Nov. 3, no one will be denied the right to vote due to lack of a mask, according a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees the conduct of elections in 67 counties.

The reason many people are casting mail-in ballots is to avoid, during the novel coronavirus pandemic, lines, crowds and having to touch screens of voting machines and scanning equipment that are part of a relatively new system statewide with a paper trail that can be audited.

With a national presidential election looming in seven days, participants on social media and many a conversation among family, friends and neighbors debated whether to vote by mail in Pennsylvania or vote in-person at a polling location, of which Washington County has 180, Greene County has 42 and Fayette County has 77.

Until the pandemic hit, Pennsylvanians had been contemplating a statewide primary to be held on April 28.

That was deemed too much of a health risk, so the primary was moved to June 2, and, aided by the first major revamping of the Pennsylvania election law in 80 years that Gov. Tom Wolf had signed in 2019, Keystone Staters had the option of casting votes through no-excuse mail-in ballots.

There was nary a murmur about the highly infectious coronavirus and its effect – or lack of effect on the health of Pennsylvanians who chose to vote in person.

This was in contrast with Wisconsin, which was the first to hold statewide voting – its presidential primary in April – amid stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19.

Many reports in the aftermath of the April 7 contest in that upper Midwestern state linked in-person voting to spread of COVID-19, but an overview of studies done in late May by Wisconsin Public Radio found they reached different conclusions about transmission.

But what about health affects on Pennsylvanians? Why did we hear little or nothing?

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, via email, explained why.

“To protect patient privacy, we can’t provide disease-specific information about a person or group of people,” wrote Maggi Mumma, deputy press secretary.

“What we can provide is that the Department of Health, or local county and municipal health departments, work to perform case investigations with every COVID-19 case and then contact trace for all their close contacts.”

“So, yes, if there was a person who confirmed COVID-19 positive and had close contacts while voting, contact tracing occurred. We have been doing case investigations and contact tracing through the pandemic.”

The Department of Health encourages all residents to wear a mask, practice social distancing and wash their hands frequently whenever they leave the house, including when they head to the polls.

At poll worker training classes, election board “students” determined fingers clad in latex gloves will still allow votes to register on touch-screen voting machines, and that someone can use a cotton swab, rather than a finger, to touch the screen.

Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander, however, asked that sanitizing voting equipment be left up to poll workers so voters don’t use substances that could cause damage.

“In addition to practicing these best health practices to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 when voting in person, we also have encouraged them to download the COVID Alert PA exposure notification application so that if they test positive or came in contact with someone who has, the app will provide anonymous notifications,” Mumma wrote in response to an email inquiry.

The Department of State, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and some businesses, is providing counties with masks, sneeze guards, hand sanitizer, tape for marking distances and other supplies to keep polling places safe and sanitary.

Ellen Lyon, deputy press secretary for the Department of State, responded to an email inquiry, “Voters who are not wearing a mask will not be denied their right to vote,” but, “We strongly encourage voters to wear masks for safety and out of respect for their fellow voters and for the dedicated poll workers staffing the polling places.”

During a Zoom press conference last week, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar was asked if poll watchers – those appointed to spend potentially hours at polling places to monitor the goings-on on behalf of a political party or a candidate – would be required to wear masks.

She said that’s a question she’d never been asked to field, but replied that because poll watchers receive certificates from county officials that the decision would be made by individual counties.

Jana Grimm, Washington County solicitor, conferred with Diana Irey Vaughan, chairman of the Washington County commissioners and the Election Board, and responded that yes, the county would require poll watchers to be masked.