Bring the Masks and Sanitizer: The Surprising Bipartisan Consensus About Safety Measures for In-Person Voting During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Authors

Joshua A. Douglas, University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law
Michael A. Zilis, University of Kentucky

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

Requiring masks at the polls might implicate a clash
between two vital rights: the constitutional right to vote and the
right to protect one’s health. Yet the debate during the 2020
election over requirements to wear a mask at the polls obscured
one key fact: a majority of Americans supported a mask
mandate for voting. That is the new insight we provide in this
Essay: when surveyed, Americans strongly supported safety
measures for in-person voting, and that support was high
regardless of partisanship. One implication of our results is
that by making some widely supported safety modifications,
state election officials likely can increase, in a non-polarizing
fashion, voters’ feelings of safety when going to their polling
place, especially during a global health emergency.

Recommended Citation

Douglas, Joshua A. and Zilis, Michael A. (2021) "Bring the Masks and Sanitizer: The Surprising Bipartisan Consensus About Safety Measures for In-Person Voting During the Coronavirus Pandemic," Georgia Law Review: Vol. 55: No. 4, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol55/iss4/5