What poll watchers can − and can’t − do on Election Day

Poll watchers keep an eye on voting in Georgia in November 2022. AP Photo/Ben Gray by Mollie J. Cohen, Purdue University and Geoffrey D. Sheagley, University of Georgia When most people think of their experience of voting in person, they may remember other voters at the polls, or the hardworking election officials checking people in and helping people submit their ballots. But in many elections, a third group is often present: poll watchers. Poll watchers are ordinary citizens who volunteer to observe elections on behalf of an organization. Many of them do so on behalf of a specific political party. Other volunteers are nonpartisan poll watchers; they observe the action at polling places on behalf of nonpartisan organizations, including domestic groups and international election watchdogs such as the Carter Center or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The United States has not historically relied extensively on international election monitors, and they are prohibited in some states, such as Tennessee. Most often, when journalists and academics like us refer to poll watchers in the U.S., we mean partisan election observers. If all goes well on Election Day, poll watchers’ jobs will be tedious. They will simply watch voters performing...