‘This is political prosecution’: Tim Hazelo guilty of felony unlawful entry after refusing to wear a mask

Tim Hazelo, the former Island County Republican Party Chair, was convicted of felony unlawful entry after he refused to wear a mask while he operated as an official election observer during the November 2024 general election.

“I’m beside myself,” Brandi Kruse, host of the podcast “unDivided with Brandi Kruse,” said on “The John Curley Show.” I mean, to me, this is political prosecution, and it’s just unreal. I never thought he’d be convicted of it.”

🚨 BREAKING: An Island County (WA) man has just been convicted of a FELONY after he refused to wear a mask while watching ballot counting during the 2024 election. His is the first of two cases to go to trial. pic.twitter.com/P8QPT1iplq

— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) July 10, 2025

Hazelo was a Republican observer authorized to be inside the Island County elections office during last year’s general election. During this time, all observers were required to wear masks or face coverings while in the ballot-counting area. Hazelo refused to wear one, leading him to be removed from the premises and subsequently charged by Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks.

Crider testified that the mask mandate was imposed because around half of her staff got COVID-19 during a previous election cycle, according to The Post Millennial.

It turns out that this Island County prosecutor, Greg Banks, has a long history of unhinged posts about Trump supporters, comparing them to the KKK, wishing death on Trump supporters who don’t wear masks, saying we need to cleanse society of their diseased thinking,” Krise said. “And this is the elected prosecutor for the county, so really unhinged stuff.”

Being a ballot observer is a volunteer role. Hazelo didn’t believe the auditor had the authority to make a ruling regarding a mask mandate.

“He needed sort of a basis to challenge it, so basically, he went, signed in to do his regular ballot observing, and he didn’t wear a mask, and he didn’t plan to wear a mask,” Kruse said. “They called the police on him, and the police escorted him out. He went out willingly. He didn’t make a big deal of it, and they cited him for disorderly conduct.”

Hazelo criminally charged

Nearly a year later, a jury found Hazelo guilty of one count of second-degree criminal trespass and one count of felony unlawful entry.

“The reason I think banks charge him with a felony is because … Hazelo needs not to have a felony on his record,” KIRO host John Curley said. “In order for him to work right in the job that he has, he can have no felony charges.”

“They charged him with trespassing and, with an RCW that’s on the books, it prohibits unlawful entry into an election center. So that makes sense, right?” Kruse said. “There’s a felony on the books for that, so somebody’s not breaking into an election center or barging in during ballot counting if someone were to do that. That should be a felony crime. That’s the felony he was convicted of, but that’s not what Tim Hazelo did. He signed in as a ballot observer. He walked in, he sat there for a while, and then left when he was told he had to leave, so they used a felony crime on the books that doesn’t even apply to the situation. That’s crazy to me.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.