Friday is the last day of early voting in the primary runoff election. And while face masks are in wide use at the polls, Gov. Greg Abbott isn鈥檛 requiring them. It鈥檚 one of the exceptions to his .
Heider Garcia, election administrator in Tarrant County, said the exception is consistent with current election law.
鈥淢andating using masks [for] voters could be the equivalent of imposing new requirements, right? And the law鈥檚 pretty clear: if you鈥檙e 18, you鈥檙e a citizen, and you鈥檙e registered, you get to vote,鈥� he said. 鈥淣o one can say you can鈥檛 because you don鈥檛 have a mask.鈥�
Many voters are wearing masks anyway.
The main reason to wear a mask, however, is to . A maskless voter puts others at risk, because COVID-19 is very infectious and people with the virus often show no symptoms.
Grace Chimene, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas, thought state officials could have landed on a compromise in their .
鈥淵ou could suggest that the polling places provide those voters with a mask, to protect the other people in that polling place,鈥� she said.
In the end, a potential mask mandate for voting may be an issue for the Texas Legislature to take up.
鈥淒o we want to craft an exception here, and say [in a] health emergency, then you do have certain authority to mandate things?鈥� Garcia said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. We鈥檒l see.鈥�
The primary runoff is a much smaller affair than November鈥檚 general election. We鈥檒l be talking about masks for many months to come.
