Readers Write: Mask requirement for early voting

The Island Now

I just returned from voting early at the Village of Great Neck Town Hall.

The outer door had a prominent sign indicating that masks were required for entering. When I entered the fairly crowded room where the voting was held I was surprised to see a good number of poll watchers and employees not wearing masks.

At the table where I was directed to sign in, only one of the two workers was wearing a mask, I inquired about it and the unmasked person answered that the sign didn’t refer to them and only the Democrats were required to wear masks and the Republicans had a personal choice (this was said with some level of perceived sarcasm).

This person then said they identified as a Republican. I replied that masks were not only for the wearer’s protection but also for those people with whom one would come into contact and that she was coming into fairly close contact with a number of people.

I further commented that Covid-19 didn’t differentiate by political parties. I don’t know who was overall responsible for the organization of the voting venue, but I consider this flagrant disregard for both the health and safety of voters and other workers and the rules of the borrowed space to be completely unacceptable.

This is what we have come to apparently- risking one’s own health and that of others in order to politicize public health regulations.

Shelley Sherman
Great Neck

TAGGED: Shelley Sherman
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