It was enough for four electorates to refuse to wear masks to show that no one has to use them to vote.
The four voters were not dressed in masks even though everyone around them at The Coral Ridge Mall in Fort Lauderdale was dressed in a mask to protect themselves from the spread of COVID-19. The four electorates, tranquilos. su one man and three women, remained in position, saying “no” on Monday when viewers scolded them and election officials told them they were wearing a mask.
The 4 electorate told police that everyone was suffering from asthma – undocumented from their doctors to resolve it – and they said they didn’t want to stick to Broward’s mask law because of their medical exemption, so they voted without a mask, revealing how vulnerable the county mask law was to those who don’t.
No one will require a mask to be wearing, neither the electoral manager nor the police. The episode highlights how dazzling any discussion of mask law enforcement has been when it comes to moments like Monday’s assembly at Coral Ridge Mall.
Broward’s election manager, Peter Antonacci, sent letters last week to local law, saying he allowed them all COVID-19 restrictions on polling stations, such as the county mask law, but the police will not comply with the law unless the election manager tells them to do so, and they do not plan to do so. , just as it did not take place on Monday.
Sending letters
For weeks, Broward’s election supervisor, Pete Antonacci, rejected Broward County officials for their resolve not to reject anyone who did not dress in a mask and planned to vote.
Like other election supervisors across the state, Antonacci said he needed to deprive the unmasked electorate of their right to vote.
Last week, the polling place said it had proposed an innovative way to solve the challenge of law enforcement. He sent letters to local authorities telling them that they were allowed to remove other “disturbing and rebellious” people from the polling station, which could simply come with those who did not comply with the county’s COVID-19 restrictions.
But Broward’s supervisor’s workplace has given conflicting regulations to police departments on whether to enforce the mask’s court order.
Fort Lauderdale police said Tuesday that it is the election workplace that does not prevent others from voting without a mask.
Police verified with Antonacci “that their workplace will not prevent a citizen from voting because of his refusal to wear a mask/mask,” said Fort Lauderdale’s acting deputy director, Frank Sousa. “It appears that the surveys have not been informed of the SOE’s position on this subject. We have asked the SOE to talk to her so that her entire workplace has a transparent message about citizens’ ability to vote.
Meeting at the mall
Confusion monday when a Coral Ridge Mall election staff member tried to prevent the masked 4-person electorate from queuing, while another electorate attempted to protect himself from COVID-19 through masks.
An electoral official at the polling station rate called the police to evict all 4 people, initially the police had planned to withdraw the group, an officer approached them and demanded that they know why they would not wear a mask when they had symptoms that indicated that they deserved to wear a mask.
But they responded that there were several reasons, adding that they were all asthmatic. One of the women, who said she was 61, explained how others had faced them, disappointed at not wearing masks. “We’re trying to tell them. They’re yelling at us, ” he told the officer.
A police officer’s camera frame shows that approximately 14 minutes have passed, and the police aspect of the matter has quickly been replaced. They spoke harshly to the election employee who had sought electorate without a mask, telling the employee that he had to find a way to allow them to vote and the organization of 4 did. The police did not disclose the names of the four voters.
According to a police report, a sergeant contacted the agency’s lawyer, who said the electoral director had stated that “the mask was NOT necessary. “
“As long as other people without a mask don’t cause problems, this is not a police matter,” the officer wrote in the report.
Move along
On Monday night, Steve Vancore, spokesman for Broward’s election office, said police have discretion with the laws, as he does in all other conditions to which they are called, and that that mask is needed. On Tuesday, he repeated office policy: “Our position has not changed. Your order remains to be d. Ask them whether they will or not. I don’t know how many tactics I can say exactly the same. “
But it’s against what the election has told the police. At Lighthouse Point, police chief Ross Licata said the election had told the firm Tuesday that other people could still vote without a mask “at worst, but that it’s not the method they like. “We will try to do everything we can to ensure that they comply. “
The South Florida Sun Sentinel contacted 10 Broward police departments on Tuesday to see if they accepted the mask law. Of the six agencies that responded, none expressly said they would apply it.
The deputy chief of the Coral Springs Police Department said that if the scenario arose, they would address it on a case-by-case basis, that is, because the county allows exemptions as medical reasons. “I don’t know if an answer that “is so, ” said Deputy Brad McKeone. “There is no directive for singles. “
In Auderhill, a spokesman said the company would not implement the masking policy and mentioned the governor’s order that postpones all sanctions “associated with COVID-19. “
InMiramar, a spokeswoman for the firm said the mask’s mandate would not be enforced and that it is up to the election workplace to deal with disorders similar to non-public protective equipment.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office, which serves as a law enforcement firm for almost part of county cities, said it would be a question about whether other people are rebels or what the election office is asking. “Whether it is a rebellious user or who is asked to get rid of the electoral manager, we will apply what the electoral manager asks for, as indicated in the affidavit of intrusion,” Sergeant Don Prichard.
Palm Beach County has the same medical exemption from its mask law. Voters without a mask will be able to vote if they invoke a medical challenge or other exemption under county mask law, said election supervisor Wendy Sartory Link, and if the electorate passes to the polls. and they say they’re exempt from dressing up in a mask, they’ll be taken to word, the mayor said.
In Miami-Dade, election officials said that those who do not wear a mask could vote in a separate domain of other voters who wear masks as a precaution.
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