https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/act-surprised-that-you-don-t-have-a-face-mask-on-st-charles-county-tells/article_39335fa9-369b-5053-a009-180f27da977b.html
"ST. CHARLES COUNTY — Election officials here on Wednesday suggested poll workers “act surprised” if voters ask why they aren’t wearing masks.
The email sent at about 11 a.m. from the St. Charles County Election Authority told poll workers they would not be required to wear a mask on Nov. 3, but would have to keep one handy and put it on if a voter asks.
But, in announcing the policy, the email suggested poll workers confronted by voters about their masks to “act surprised.”
“You may act surprised that you don’t have a face mask on properly and then apologize as you put the mask on,” an Election Authority recruiter wrote in the email. “Wear your mask correctly until the voter leaves the polling place. Please do this every time a voter says something to you.”
Critics of the email’s instructions were misinterpreting it, said Kurt Bahr, director of elections for the St. Charles County Election Authority, after the office received complaints about the directive.
The directive to “act surprised” was meant to give poll workers a way to quickly acknowledge that they weren’t wearing the mask, if confronted by voters, put it on and then continue with administering elections, Bahr said.
“We missed the mark in what we were intending to communicate,” Bahr said.
“The goal is to say to ‘put the mask on without arguing and then move on,’” he said. “We used the word ‘act surprised,’ but we could have said ‘act apologetic.’”
The policy requires poll workers to wear a mask on their ear or a lanyard — somewhere visible and accessible — and put it on fully if a voter asks, Bahr said. That’s a change he instituted from earlier in the year, when poll workers were only “highly encouraged” to wear masks, he said.
Workers will be required to wear a mask if a voter mentions it in any general sense, Bahr said. There is no specific phrase or question a voter has to ask for a poll worker to put a mask on.
“I trust that they will use their best judgment to recognize that if they’re asked to wear a mask, that they put one on,” he said."
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