The visiting judge in a civil case challenging a mask mandate at the Island County Elections Office didn’t hesitate to express irritation or admonish attorneys during a hearing Tuesday morning.

Yet while Judge Joseph Wilson, a Snohomish County judge assigned the Island County case, admitted he didn’t entirely understand why the case created such a charged atmosphere, he said the arguments were not frivolous and that there are actions he has reasonable questions about.

“I think the issue is going to come up again,” he said, “and I think that a resolution of this particular dispute needs to be had.”

He said the “fairly precise question” that needs to be resolved in whether the Island County auditor, who runs elections in the county, has the authority to require observers to wear masks.

While Wilson made rulings in a few motions from the bench, he said he would need time to analyze the arguments and write decisions in the two major motions before him. Namely, the plaintiffs’ attorney Austin Hatcher filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Elections Office from enforcing the mask mandate, and Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks filed a motion to dismiss the preliminary injunction request.

Hatcher is representing Tim Hazelo, the former chair of the Island County Republican Party, and Tracy Aduhl, the former vice chair, while the judge removed resident James Peterson from the case. Court documents indicate that the litigation is sponsored by Silent Majority Foundation, an Eastern Washington nonprofit organization. The complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief was filed in Island County Superior Court on Feb. 1.

The hearing Tuesday morning was marked by pointed exchange between the judge and attorneys.

Wilson criticized Hatcher for including five-year-old posts of a political nature from Island County Banks’ personal Facebook page in a document filed with the court and ordered them to be stricken.

“Your materials are unnecessary and unprofessional and they belittle the profession of an attorney,” Wilson said, “and you shouldn’t have submitted them and you know that. It was gratuitous and done to take a shot at somebody individually.”

Hatcher said this was not his intention, but the judge said “of course it was” or he wouldn’t have done it.

Wilson was also critical of Banks for including in a motion a declaration from Auditor Sheilah Crider that erroneously stated Hazelo signed rules that included the mask requirement.

“Is there a reason then that the auditor submitted a declaration under penalty of perjury, under the supervision of the county prosecuting attorney authority, that misstated a critical fact in this case?” he asked.

Banks conceded that the declaration was incorrect and was included in the filing by accident. Wilson followed up, pointing out that state law allows the auditor to require observers to sign a list of rules; he asked why she didn’t simply add the mask requirement to the rules that observers did sign.

Banks said he assumed that the auditor and staff felt that it was enough to tell people and to post signs in the office.

“Again, it’s just a really simple question,” the judge said. “Does the auditor have the authority to impose rules? I kind of think she does. The question is, did she do so in this instance, so that everyone was on notice and signed and agreed? That’s the trouble I am having here.”

Banks argued that Hazelo and Abuhl clearly knew about the mask mandate. He said Abuhl went into the office, immediately asked if the mask rules was still in effect and then said she refused to wear one. In addition, Banks said Hazelo entered the room without a mask and announced that he would have to be removed by police.

Banks said Crider, as the administrator of elections, took a step that she felt was necessary.

“The authority exists whether or not it was in the signed acknowledgement,” Banks said.

Wilson also grilled Hatcher about how the plaintiffs would be injured by having to wear a mask if the mandate was valid. Wilson interrupted Hatcher repeatedly as the attorney tried to answer and asked him the question in different ways. The judge finally said he was going to give him a fourth chance to explain the perceived injury.

“Because requiring a mask is subjecting someone to an action that they don’t want to take,” Hatcher said. “It is an essential freedom of people to act in accordance with how they believe they should be able to comport themselves. Walking around without a mask, I think, is the status quo.”

The high-profile case, which has made regional and even national news, arises out of a couple of incidents during the 2024 general election involving a mask requirement, which was a rule posted on signs in the Elections Office in Coupeville. Crider created the rule after a COVID outbreak in the primary election put elderly volunteers at risk.

Abuhl and Hazelo entered the office as election observers on different days and refused to wear masks, despite being asked repeatedly by staff. In the end, the staff called law enforcement and both Abuhl and Hazelo were escorted out and cited for disorderly conduct.

Hazelo, Abuhl and Peterson filed a motion for an emergency injunction on Election Day to prevent the mask mandate from being enforced. They argued that the county auditor doesn’t have the authority to impose a health-related rule. Banks represented Crider in the hearing.

Island County Superior Court Judge Christon Skinner denied the motion, finding that the plaintiffs couldn’t show any actual harm from having to wear a mask.

Banks charged Hazelo and Abuhl in district court with disorderly conduct. When they refused a plea bargain, Banks refiled the case in superior court and added a felony charge for alleged unauthorized access to a voting center.

During the hearing, Wilson warned the members of the gallery who came in support of Hazelo and Abuhl to put their phones away, not to record the hearing, to be quiet and not to make faces. A video of a previous hearing that someone recorded in defiance of a judge’s order was previously posted online as part of a fundraising video.

The judge later stopped the hearing when people were hissing while Banks was speaking and sternly warned the gallery members that he would kick them out if they abused the privilege of watching the proceedings.

“I am not Judge Judy and I will not allow audience participation,” Wilson said.