Melania Trump slammed for her move on election day

On the day all eyes should be focused on her husband, First Lady Melania Trump sparked controversy while posing at a polling booth.

First Lady Melania Trump votes. Picture: Zak Bennett/AFP

The First Lady has cast her ballot for the US Election — but was the only one at the polling place not to wear a mask.

Melania Trump voted alone at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Centre in West Palm Beach, Florida.

“It’s Election Day, so I wanted to come here to vote today for the election,” Mrs Trump told reporters after she was asked why she didn’t vote with the President.

According to a pool report, she was the only person at the polling place not wearing a mask.

First Lady Melania Trump leaves the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach. Picture: Zak Bennett/AFP

Mrs Trump voted in Florida. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP

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Her maskless vote didn’t sit well with Americans — with the US losing more than 230,000 people to coronavirus since the pandemic began.

In photos and video taken at the centre, Mrs Trump can be seen surrounded by secret service agents, all of whom are wearing a mask.

It’s like the trump administration owns stock in coronavirus https://t.co/bi7QbEFchO

— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) November 3, 2020

Someone who just had covid less than a month ago, walking into public places mask-less 🤦‍♂️

THIS is why the pandemic will never be over in this country, and if we have to shutdown again, remember that THIS is why

— kris krup (@KrupKris) November 3, 2020

For a person that was supposed to have had the virus, she is not wearing a mask, this is disrespectful to all those that are around her.

— Bopper (@TinaPar70764063) November 3, 2020

The First Lady is registered to vote at her address at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

The centre was closed for approximately 45 minutes to accommodate Mrs Trump’s vote. With its 29 electoral votes, Florida is crucial to both candidates.

Florida became the Trumps’ home in late 2019 when Donald Trump decided to change his residency from New York.

Mrs Trump wore a $4500 Gucci dress to vote and was escorted out of the polling station by Wendy Sartory Link, the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections.

Ms Sartory Link was wearing a mask, emblazoned with a peace signal with a US flag pattern.

Mrs Trump is likely on her way back to Washington D.C to spend Election Night with her husband as votes are counted across the country.

Mrs Trump with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link. Picture: Zak Bennett/AFP

MOMENTS AGO: @FLOTUS Melania Trump votes on #ElectionDay in West Palm Beach, Florida. pic.twitter.com/gICI0bx7k0

— The Hill (@thehill) November 3, 2020

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Mrs Trump casting her vote came just hours after she had returned to the campaign trail and accused Joe Biden of wanting Americans to “hide in fear in our basements”.

Speaking in West Bend, a small city in the swing state of Wisconsin, she made clear that she shared many of her husband’s views about coronavirus.

Both Mr and Mrs Trump recovered from coronavirus last month after contracting the potentially deadly illness.

“COVID-19 is not a partisan issue,” Mrs Trump said, before launching into a bitter attack on the Democrats, who “want to project feelings of fear and doubt purely for political reasons”.

Referring to Mr Biden’s warning of a “dark winter” ahead, she said: “That is not the statement of a leader. He wants to make us hide in fear in our basements rather than work bravely within our communities to find lasting solutions.”

But it wasn’t just Mrs Trump that refused to wear a mask recently.

Donald Trump visited a Republican National Committee office in Virginia earlier today, near Washington D.C, and was also unmasked.

Mr Trump visited Virginia before polls closed.

The US is averaging 83,500 new cases of the virus each day, which is the highest that number has been during the pandemic.

More than 230,000 Americans have died due to coronavirus and it took the nation only two weeks to notch up its most recent one million cases.

Mr Trump himself was hospitalised with coronavirus — a month before Election Day.