The former chair of the Island County Republican Party refused to wear a mask while observing ballot counting during the 2024 presidential election.
Now, an Island County jury has found him guilty of a felony.
This month, jurors convicted Timothy Hazelo of unauthorized access to an election office or ballot-counting area and first-degree criminal trespassing.
Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider had instituted a mask policy for vote counters and observers, because of a COVID-19 outbreak in August 2024, according to court documents. All of the volunteers processing ballots were at heightened risk because they were over the age of 65 in November.
Greg Banks, the Island County prosecuting attorney, said Crider enacted the rule because she “couldn’t afford to lose half of her workers in the middle of counting ballots.” Crider has authority to enact a mask rule, Banks said, because her job is to make sure elections are processed transparently and accurately.
Hazelo, an outspoken opponent of mask mandates who ran for U.S. House in 2020, showed up mask-free. Two local law enforcement officers responded. Hazelo told officers he would not leave unless he received a citation, according to a civil complaint filed by one of Hazelo’s lawyers, Austin Hatcher. The officers escorted him from the building and cited him.
Each political party is allowed to designate official observers to watch ballot counting. The Island County Republican Party sent Hazelo and Tracy Abuhl, who also did not wear a mask. She has a tentative trial date in August.
Banks said Hazelo had a chance to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, for disorderly conduct.
“He basically has had exit ramps many places along the way, and he is just pedal to the metal, zoomed by all of the exit ramps offered to him, and then he complains that he goes to trial and gets convicted,” Banks said. “Just mind-boggling.”
Hazelo didn’t plead guilty to the misdemeanor because he didn’t commit that crime, said one of his attorneys, Angus Lee.
The prosecutor later charged Hazelo with the felony.
Hazelo declined to comment, writing in an email that his lawyer advised him not to. However, Hazelo spoke briefly to Brandi Kruse, a political podcaster based in Washington.
“I don’t think the auditor’s office is doing anything weird with the ballots,” Hazelo told Kruse on her podcast. “I think Island County does a pretty darn good job. But we have to make sure and that’s why we go to watch.”
Hazelo and his defense team believe Crider overstepped by making a mask rule, Lee said. Crider declined to comment.
“The auditor of any county can make any arbitrary rule at any time, without any due process, without compliance with any procedure, without notice to anyone, and essentially make it a felony for anyone that they don't like to be observing the election,” Lee said.
Lee said that during the trial the jury asked for a copy of the laws at issue and the court did not provide that to them.
In a separate civil lawsuit filed by Hazelo and his attorneys, visiting Superior Court Judge Joseph Wilson wrote “because the Auditor has the authority to manage the functions of her office, including the authority to issue masking requirements, an Injunction cannot be sustained. This case is Dismissed, with prejudice.”
Wilson also oversaw the criminal case.
In an interview, Lee argued the prosecutor’s Facebook posts showed “pretty significant animus towards Republicans.”
Banks said he made a few posts on Facebook criticizing President Donald Trump a few years ago. During the trial, those posts resurfaced. One of them said: “Dear Republicans: Shut the (expletive) up already.”
Banks said the posts came up in the lawsuit, too, and that the judge ordered them stricken from the record.
“If (Hazelo’s defense team) thought that I was somehow politically motivated, they could have filed a motion asking a court to disqualify me from the case,” Banks said. “But they never even filed a motion.”
On Friday, Hazelo and his defense team filed a motion for a new trial. Lee said he’s ready to “appeal this all the way to the Supreme Court.”
“We will defend this case until we achieve total victory,” Lee said, “and we will achieve total victory.”
Meanwhile, a sentencing date hasn’t been set. As of this week, Banks was still considering what his recommendation will be.
© 2025 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
