SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KMOX) - The state of Illinois admits there are limits to what election authorities can do to protect the public from exposure to COVID-19 on election day – including refusing to let someone come in and vote if they’re not wearing a mask.
Illinois Public Health Department has provided guidelines to election officials on how to make polling places as safe as possible amid the coronavirus pandemic. for early voting and on Election Day itself.
One rule is that on election day, and early voting days, poll workers are prohibited from stopping someone who refuses to wear a mask from voting. Polling places are advised to offer everyone who doesn't have one a mask, but if a voter refuses to wear one, the guidelines say they should be put in a separate line.
"Election authorities are prohibited from preventing a noncompliant voter from casting a ballot for refusal to wear a face covering outside or inside a polling place," the IPHD states.
Also, the guidelines prohibit election authorities from screening voters for COVID-19. That means no temperature checks or questions about being exposed to anyone who has had COVID-19.
Even poll workers are only told to "self screen" for possible COVID-19 symptoms and are asked to stay home on electon day if they have any doubts about their health.
Those guidelines also recommend plenty of plexiglass partitions, disinfectant readily available for voters and poll workers, and not handing out those "I voted" stickers to avoid spreading the virus.
See the full guidelines for voting here.