Rose is an 82 year-old Missoula resident who successfully cast her ballot on Monday at the Missoula County Election Center on Russell Street, but it wasn’t her first attempt.

Rose’s daughter Linda described what happened on Saturday when her mother tried to cast her ballot the first time.

“She went down Saturday at about 11:30 a.m. to the Russell Street office and she walked in wearing a mask that just said ‘America Strong, Working Together to Stay Apart’, and so she sat down to start to vote and a lady rushed over to her and tapped her on the shoulder and told her that she couldn't vote with that mask on,” said Linda.

Rose Mask
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The official on duty attempted to give Rose another mask.

“She handed her barehanded another mask to put on, and my mom said, I'm not going to put that mask on, because you just touched it,’ she said.  “And the official said, ‘Well, I can't let you vote here with that mask on’. So my mom being 82 was very frustrated by that and just said, ‘Well, I'll go vote somewhere else, and the lady said, well, wherever you go, they're going to tell you that.”

Rose was insistent that she wanted to vote in person, so Linda described what happened on Monday at the Russell Street Election Center.

“This morning, we went back and she wore a different mask and she was able to vote successfully,” she said. “But before we left, I talked to the person in charge and said, ‘Hey, listen, this is what happened to my mother on Saturday. I don't think it was right. I think this office owes her an apology’, and the lady, Jill Harris, was super nice. She said, ‘Oh my gosh, that should never have happened’ I showed her the mask that she had on and she said ‘I'm so sorry Rose, that should never have happened and I will get on it with a person who you spoke to on Saturday.”

So, when all was said and done, a very persistent Rose was able to cast her ballot for the 2020 election.

 

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