Republicans have begun to unleash tens of thousands of poll watchers for the election, an operation that comes after months of recruitment efforts and some controversy and legal disputes.
The Republican National Committee has started deploying its poll watchers to stand hawk-eyed around voting and ballot-counting centers and report problems to hotlines. While long a pillar of the voting process for both major political parties, the Right’s poll-watching efforts have focused on seeking out instances of possible voter fraud.
The RNC recruited more than 230,000 volunteer poll watchers, workers, and lawyers, more than double its original goal, according to Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser for the Trump campaign and RNC, who called it an “unprecedented election integrity program.”
“These patriots have volunteered their time to bring transparency and accountability to our election process,” Alvarez told the Washington Examiner. “While Democrats will stop at nothing to weaken our elections, we are fighting for a fair and secure process where every legal vote is counted properly.”
The Democratic National Committee, which did not respond to requests for comments, has also recruited poll watchers. Democratic hiring announcements online showcase how the Left takes a different messaging approach, instructing its recruits to make sure voters are not hindered from casting a ballot or intimidated by other prowling watchers.
Trump encourages watchers
Former President Donald Trump has driven his party’s poll-watching mission since the 2020 election, when he told supporters during a debate to “go into the polls” and “watch very carefully.” He warned that in Philadelphia’s polling centers, “bad things happen.”
The remarks attracted criticism at the time because of the vague allusion to fraud and because poll watching is a controlled job that is governed by state laws, which typically do not allow people to show up unannounced to perform the duty.
Trump has continued to focus on Democratic strongholds, telling people last December at an event in Iowa that they need to “guard the vote” and name-checking Philadelphia, Detroit, and Atlanta.
At a campaign rally in Michigan this spring, he announced that he and the RNC would “ensure that what happened in 2020 will never happen again,” in reference to Trump’s stance that alleged widespread voter fraud cost him his last race.
“We’re going to watch them like hawks,” Trump said.
Watchers are a ‘fly on the wall’
Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Gina Swoboda told the Washington Examiner that the top issues poll watchers are trained to look out for are long lines, equipment malfunctions, voter intimidation, and polls not opening on time.
She said that between watchers and workers, Republicans in her state are set to have up to 6,500 volunteers manning the polls.
Republicans on a national level have drawn scrutiny for allowing certain people, such as Jack Posobiec, an avid right-wing commentator on X, and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, who has magnified allegations of voter fraud, to help conduct some training.
David Becker, executive director at the Center for Election Innovation Research, told reporters this week that while he has heard of some instances of poll watchers acting out by thinking “it was their role to interfere with the process or perhaps intimidate voters or election officials,” he “cannot stress enough how rare this is.”
Becker added that he felt poll watchers were good for elections “so long as they understand that their role is to be a fly on the wall. Their role is to observe and not to interfere.”
What happens in Wisconsin
State laws about poll watching, sometimes also known as monitoring or observing, vary regarding how many people can do it and what rules they must follow. Of the seven top swing states in 2024, Wisconsin’s rules are the least restrictive, as the state does not require its poll watchers to have been recruited by a political party or candidate.
That has led to outside groups, including the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, announcing they will partake in their own observation activities in the vulnerable blue wall state.
“Judicial Watch’s teams will monitor the election in Wisconsin to expose and deter any fraud,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.
Wisconsin Public Radio predicted the state will “see an influx of election observers” this year, citing a local district attorney’s estimation that the GOP will install at least 600 in Milwaukee County alone.
Republicans sue for equal representation
The RNC and local Republicans brought lawsuits in Georgia and Michigan over their lack of party representation among poll workers.
Poll workers are different than watchers. Workers are typically tasked with helping to conduct operations at a polling place by setting it up and closing it down, giving information to voters, and guarding ballots and equipment.
Georgia and Michigan are among the states that allow political parties to submit poll worker applicants, and their laws require equal party representation among the workers where possible.
The RNC and the Georgia Republican Party brought an emergency lawsuit this month in Fulton County, Georgia’s most populous county, alleging its election director failed to follow that provision by largely ignoring a list of 62 Republican-provided applicants to work the polls on Election Day. The Republicans alleged that the director, Nadine Williams, hired six of them and then turned to temp workers to fill hundreds of other open positions.
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“A large percentage of these 62 qualified workers have never been contacted or have no idea of whether Defendant Williams intends to issue an order of appointment,” GOP attorneys wrote.
The RNC announced it settled a similar lawsuit this month in Wayne County, Michigan, which is home to Detroit.
There, Republicans alleged that most of the county’s 335 precincts failed to abide by the equal representation provision and that 202 of the counties had no Republican poll workers whatsoever. They found Democratic poll workers outnumbered Republicans by about a seven-to-one ratio.
‘Fortress’-level security
While poll watchers and recruiters have faced criticism for perceived intimidating demeanors, poll workers are the ones who have received more tangible threats.
Maricopa County, Arizona, an epicenter for claims of voter fraud in recent elections, has beefed up security, making use of SWAT teams and drones. One election official said in a CNN interview it had transformed into a “fortress.”
The DOJ announced this week that it brought an indictment against a 62-year-old Philadelphia man for threatening to kill an official who was recruiting poll watchers in the must-win state of Pennsylvania.
The poll-watching recruiter, who was employed by a state political party, had posted his phone number online as part of his recruiting efforts, according to authorities. The suspect allegedly texted the number in September, saying, “I will KILL YOU IF YOU DON’T ANSWER ME” and “GONNA F***ING FIND YOU AND SKIN YOU ALIVE AND USE YOUR SKIN FOR F***ING TOILET PAPER, YOU F***ING KKK**T!”
Courts can, in the event of an incident, also turn to poll watchers and workers to testify about their observations.
The role of the feds
The DOJ, which has had a heavy hand in pre-election litigation, plans to enforce federal election laws and has been releasing announcements about its efforts to do so for months.
The department said in statements that it “regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country.”
After a sheriff running for reelection in Portage County, Ohio, came under fire for a social media post in which he advocated targeting people who had yard signs supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, the DOJ announced it would “monitor compliance” with laws in that county during early voting and on Election Day.
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U.S. attorneys across the country have been designating federal prosecutors to oversee Election Day complaints, and FBI field offices have prepared to receive reports of voting problems.
Separately from poll watchers, the GOP-led House Administration Committee has also launched the latest version of Congress’s long-standing election observer program, through which aides are deployed to monitor polls across the country on behalf of Congress.