Ohio U.S. Senate candidate says he was told to wear a mask to vote: 'Completely unconstitutional'

Josh Mandel, former Ohio State Treasurer and candidate for U.S. Senate, told Just the News that an election official in Cuyahoga County informed him that he wasn't allowed to enter a school gym to vote on Election Day without wearing a mask.

"I said 'no' and we were at, sort of, a standstill and she wouldn't let me in. And so I said, 'Listen, I'm a Marine. I've got a right to vote. I'm American citizen and I'm going into vote and that's it. I just went in there and I looked around; everyone else voting had masks on," Mandel said during an interview on Wednesday.

"It made me think that they are either forced against their will to put masks on or there might have been people who didn't even vote because of the mandate, and they might have walked away and not even exercised the right to vote. And this is completely unconstitutional. And on top of that, it's a form of voter suppression,” he added.

According to local news reports, masks were not required for in-person voting in Ohio. However, there is a mask mandate in Ohio public schools, where some polling locations are located. Mandel was asked if he thinks the election official who told him to wear a mask could have been misinterpreting state guidance about how to handle masks at polling locations.

"No, I think the Cuyahoga County Democrat election officials were trying to force voters to wear masks to discourage conservatives from voting," he said.

"This year, the Democrats are saying no mask, no vote, but you can easily see next year it turning into no vaccination boat and this is really scary stuff. Not to mention, it's unconstitutional and un-American, it's a blatant violation of individual liberty and it's against the law, in my opinion," he added.

Mandel also said Democrats who want to require a mask to vote in-person but not require a photo ID is hypocrisy. 

"There's nothing racist about having to show an ID to vote, but then the Democrats are saying, 'well, ID is racist, but having a show mask, no problem with that.' I mean, it's just totally outrageous and ridiculous," he said.