Missouri poll workers told they don’t need masks — but must ‘act surprised’ if voters notice

On Thursday, The Daily Beast reported that election officials in St. Charles County, Missouri have told poll workers they don't need to wear masks — but that if voters question them on why they aren't wearing them, they should pretend they just forgot to put them on.

“You may act surprised that you don’t have a face mask on properly and then apologize as you put the mask on,” said the email to election workers. “Wear your mask correctly until the voter leaves the polling place. Please do this every time a voter says something to you.”

According to the article, local elections director Kurt Bahr has disavowed this email, claiming that masks will in fact be mandatory and the email was misconstrued. “The goal is to say to ‘put the mask on without arguing and then move on,’” he said.