Michael O’Donnell’s Facebook poll on COVID-19 masks yields 17K votes, unexpected result
Facebook can be a fickle friend sometimes.
Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell found that out when he posted a Facebook poll on his campaign page this week that didn’t turn out quite the way he’d planned.
The question: “For residents of Sedgwick County Commission District 2: Do you support Governor Kelly’s order to force Kansans to wear a mask in public?”
The answer was a resounding “Yes.”
By the time the poll closed Tuesday night after 24 hours online, more than 17,000 Facebook users had voted and favored Gov. Laura Kelly and masks by a margin of 60-40.
“Well, I guess there’s his answer,” Haysville and District 2 resident Brenda Fields wrote in the comment thread attached to the poll.
O’Donnell pooh-poohed the results of his poll.
“That’s not indicative of my district,” he said. “The e-mails I’m receiving from people in Haysville and places are all against the masks.”
The poll, shared widely in and out of state, was removed from O’Donnell’s campaign page minutes after the voting ended.
“Normally when I have a poll there’s about 200 votes,” O’Donnell said. “I’m thinking about having another poll, and having people put their ZIP code in to make sure they live in District 2.”
O’Donnell faces two challengers in the Aug. 4 Republican primary election: Planning Commissioner Cindy Miles and government contractor Kathleen Garrison. The district includes southwest Wichita, Haysville and Clearwater.
O’Donnell has consistently opposed mandatory measures related to COVID-19.
He voted against a county stay-at-home order at the dawn of the pandemic in March, that was later superseded by Kelly’s statewide orders.
And O’Donnell led the charge against what he called a “snitch line” set up by the county, where residents could report mass gatherings that violated the governor’s orders.
Within days, county commissioners will be asked to vote on whether to overturn Kelly’s latest executive order, which will require face masks to limit the spread of the coronavirus in public gathering places.
Kelly has said she’ll announce details of the order and sign it Thursday. It will take effect just after midnight on Friday morning.
If the commission wants to overturn or alter Kelly’s order before July 4 holiday weekend celebrations, commissioners would probably have to call a special meeting Friday.
That’s the official state and federal holiday, when the courthouse where they meet will be closed and staff members would have to come in on their day off.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 5:50 PM.
