FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — First lady Melania Trump voted Tuesday morning in Palm Beach, casting her ballot at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center.
She entered the polling station about 10 a.m. local time and was the only person in her entourage not wearing a mask. It was not clear whether she put on a mask inside. She left with Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link, who was wearing a mask.
President Donald Trump made history on Oct. 24 when he became the first sitting U.S. president to vote in person in Florida.
He voted at Palm Beach County's main library on Summit Boulevard, which is across the street from his golf club in suburban West Palm Beach. He wore a mask in the polling place.
Unlike when he voted four years ago in New York City, his wife did not join him. Campaign officials said a "lingering cough" from her bout with COVID-19 had kept her from the campaign trail around the time of Trump's visit to Florida.
Asked why she didn't vote with her husband, Trump said, "It's Election Day, so I wanted to come here to vote today for the election."
Both she and the president registered as Florida voters last year, changing their residence from New York City to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
Last month, Link said voters without masks will be allowed to cast ballots only if they cite a medical problem or some other exemption under the county's mask law. If voters show up to the polls and say they're exempt from wearing a mask, they'll be taken at their word, Palm Beach Mayor David Kerner said.
Link called her time with Melania Trump on Tuesday "short and sweet."
"We had regular voters voting there as scheduled until she came in, then they stopped the line while she voted, and then they went right back to it," Link said. "It was very uneventful."
