# What are poll watchers going to be watching for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 7, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437 "2020-10-07T17:37:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/1 "2020-10-07T17:37:18Z")
Poll watchers seem to be a big thing in the news lately, what with Trump’s very vocal concerns about potential voter fraud. What rules govern the behavior of official poll watchers at polling places? What are poll watchers expecting to see? What are they allowed to do if they think they have witnessed shenanigans? What kinds of shenanigans have official poll watchers reported in during previous elections (and had confirmed by official investigation afterward)? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/2 "2020-10-07T18:08:52Z")
I was one a few years ago. Basically, the poll watchers are just watching to make sure everyone is following the local polling place rules. Things like: Election officials not asking inappropriate questions unrelated to finding the voter’s registration. Any voter intimidation going on inside or outside the building. Inappropriate electioneering going on without the Officials putting a stop to it. Electronic equipment is working and not broken. Voters with disabilities being accommodated appropriately. We had an app we could report any problems with. I’m not sure what would have happened exactly if we had reported anything. We also used the app to report total voter numbers once an hour or something like that. We got that number by asking an Official. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/3 "2020-10-07T18:10:11Z")
What makes an “official” poll watcher official? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/4 "2020-10-07T18:17:15Z")
I’m imagining a referee jersey, a whistle on a lanyard and some colorful flags and cards. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/5 "2020-10-07T18:18:52Z")
Here’s an article on how it works in Texas. It sure looks to me like they’re official observers, but not some sort of certification authority. Kind of like people watching just to keep people honest, but without any actual authority to do anything. [https://www.heralddemocrat.com/news/20161023/what-are-rules-for-poll-watchers](https://www.heralddemocrat.com/news/20161023/what-are-rules-for-poll-watchers) Here’s a CNN article from four years ago that’s more broad: > **[What are poll watchers and what are they allowed to do? | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/29/politics/poll-watchers-monitors/index.html)** > > At look at rules governing polling places and poll watchers ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/6 "2020-10-07T18:21:26Z")
That’s not the kind of “poll watcher” Elf is talking about. He’s talking about Trump loyalists who show up at the polls unannounced to “watch things over”. To the OP. They’re only there to stir shit. “Reporting” in an official capacity is NOT high on their agenda one would imagine. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/7 "2020-10-07T18:22:55Z")
Hopefully they’re watching out for the police who will come take them to jail. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/8 "2020-10-07T18:24:36Z")
I’ve worked international elections before. Accredited poll watchers are there to observe the process and ensure it is operating smoothly and efficiently. The can be representatives of a political party, the media or a civil society organization. What the GOP has done in the past is use unaccredited poll “watchers” to harass voters and intimidate minorities from showing up at the polls. " The court ban on Republican Party voter-fraud operations [was imposed in 1982, and then modified in 1986 and again in 1990,](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/the-gop-just-received-another-tool-for-suppressing-votes/550052/) each time after courts found instances of Republicans intimidating or working to exclude minority voters in the name of preventing fraud. The party was found to have violated it yet again in 2004." > **[Freed by Court Ruling, Republicans Step Up Effort to Patrol Voting (Published...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/us/Voting-republicans-trump.html)** > > Officials seek to recruit 50,000 poll watchers and spend millions to fight voter fraud. Democrats say the real goal is to stop them from voting. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/9 "2020-10-07T19:14:34Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > That’s not the kind of “poll watcher” Elf is talking about. Oh, OK. The ‘official’ ones are associated and sent by the major political parties for the most part. Many are lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/10 "2020-10-07T22:25:28Z")
The real poll watchers are looking for the kind of poll watchers Trump is “recruiting”, but don’t have any authority to deal with them. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/11 "2020-10-08T16:44:28Z")
These Trump poll watchers are there to warn Blacks that they could go to jail if there is anything irregular about their voting. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/12 "2020-10-08T17:01:25Z")
While there are factual answers to this question, there are also political aspects, so let’s move it to Politics and Elections. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-poll-watchers-going-to-be-watching-for/922437/13 "2020-10-08T17:48:22Z")
I was a poll watcher in high school-- you didn’t have to be a registered voter then. One thing we were watching for was volume. At the time, the voting machines didn’t record the time people voted, and the poll watchers records were the only record of when the polls were crowded, and when they were empty-- also, and we weren’t supposed to let on, but because it was a primary, we were listening to whether people asked for a Republican of Democrat ballot, mostly to get an idea of whether the parties tended to vote on different timelines (they did-- Republicans voted first thing in the morning; Dems voted at lunchtime, and after work). The information was used by the party I worked for to advise people who asked when to go to the polls to avoid crowds, and also to know to ignore early reports made by interviewing voters at the polls that Rep candidates were in the lead. We also used it to help volunteers who drove elderly people to the polls-- people who happened to own vans, which was less common then, would volunteer to go to retirement homes, and drive people to their voting place. Retired people were often free to go at just about any time, and information from poll watchers helped determine when infirm people would do the least amount of waiting. We also did some trouble-shooting. This was before cell phones, and sometimes when there was a question one of the poll workers needed to make to the city registry, but weren’t allowed to leave the polling place, and there was no phone in the polling place, we’d go relay a message. We were general gofers too. We’d run to the teachers’ lounge and buy sodas for the poll workers. We couldn’t sit in for the certified poll workers, but we could sit in for the pollbook holders if they needed a bathroom break, and we did that. When the lunch cart arrived, we helped them unload. We also did a little crowd control if it was necessary, after the polls were closed. Since the workers couldn’t leave the polling place, we stood outside and informed people who showed up after closing that they were too late. I only had to do that twice, and only go back-talk once. If we had observed anything untoward, we would have called the precinct committeeman, but I personally never did. I did see one inspector who was clearly incompetent, and reported that, but so did three of the poll workers, who were not happy about being kept at the polls unto 1am (typical was 8:30pm after a close of 6pm), because the inspector had no idea what was going on.