Election judge worked despite COVID-19 diagnosis, then died

O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A suburban St. Louis election official who worked at a polling place on Election Day despite a positive test for the coronavirus has now died, raising concerns for the nearly 2,000 people who voted there.

St. Charles County, Missouri, spokeswoman Mary Enger said in a news release Thursday that the person, whose cause of death is not yet known, was an election judge supervisor at the Blanchette Park Memorial Hall polling site in St. Charles.

Enger says the county’s health department and election authority recently learned that the poll worker tested positive Oct. 30 for COVID-19 and was advised to quarantine for 14 days, but ignored the advice and worked Tuesday.