Poll watcher vs. poll observer: What's the difference?

Poll watchers play an important role in free and fair elections, but they are not the same as poll observers when it comes to what they're able to do and how they're trained. For more on the difference between the two, let's turn to Chris Harvey. He's the former elections director for Georgia secretary of state. He spoke with GPB's Peter Biello.

Peter Biello: What's the difference between a poll watcher and a poll observer?

Chris Harvey: Okay. A poll watcher is somebody who's specifically designated by a candidate or a party to have an official presence in a polling place. They have to be designated in advance. They have to receive some training on their duties and obligations. They have to be identified at a polling place. And they're allowed to essentially have what amounts to backstage access. They get to go beyond the line of the enclosed space where the machines are. They can wander around. They can observe. They can take notes. They can't interfere. They're not supposed to be talking with people. They can't campaign. They can't do any of that stuff. But they're essentially the eyes and ears of the candidates and the campaigns in each individual polling place.

Peter Biello: And when you say they are identified, that means they have a badge of some kind, right? Where you can see that they are a poll watcher?

Chris Harvey: Correct. They're issued a nametag or a badge by the elections office. And they're required to wear that while they're in the polling place, acting as a poll watcher. And essentially, anybody that's not a poll watcher, an election official or a voter is a member of the public. And certainly members of the public have the right to observe what's going on at a polling place. They're open to the public and they should be open to the public. But the regular observer has to stay beyond the enclosed space, has to stay outside of the enclosed space. They can't wander around the machines. They don't have the kind of access that a poll watcher does.

Peter Biello: And when it comes to interactions with voters themselves, what's allowed for both poll watchers and poll observers? Are they allowed to talk to voters and question them or no?

Chris Harvey: When a poll watcher is behind the enclosed space, they're not allowed to have interactions with voters. They're not really supposed to be talking with election officials. They're to sort of be seen and not heard. They can make notes. They can leave the enclosed space and go out and they can make phone calls and do anything that a member of the public can do when they're not behind the enclosed space. If they were to see something and they wanted to report it back to their campaign or their candidate, they could leave the polling place, make a phone call and then return to the polling place and resume their silent duties as a poll watcher. Members of the public? There's no prohibition necessarily against talking with people. There are prohibitions against doing any type of soliciting or campaigning within 150 feet of a polling place and certainly inside a polling place. So there wouldn't be anything wrong with just an observer who wants to go down and watch. If they want to have a conversation with others, there's nothing prohibited about that as long as they're not engaging in talking about or against a candidate, soliciting votes. They're not intimidating, they're not otherwise breaking the law. Their presence is fine.

Peter Biello: What goes into the training for poll watchers?

Chris Harvey: Well, poll watchers' training is set up, I believe, by the secretary of state's office. They essentially provide it to the parties and then the parties and the candidates are responsible for making sure their poll watchers receive the training. And it's largely kind of what I described. It's described in the law — in 21-2-408 — where it talks about essentially the responsibilities and restrictions on poll watchers. And so the poll watchers would be told things like, “Hey, you can't talk to voters when you're in the enclosed space. You can't advocate for or against candidates when you're in the enclosed space. You can't — if you have a problem, you're to report it to the election superintendent, not to the to the poll manager.” And [they’ll] also be told that the poll manager does have the authority to have the poll watcher removed if they persist in doing things they're not supposed to do. The goal is to certainly allow the public viewing and the specific access that the candidates and campaigns have while keeping kind of everybody in line with what's allowed in the law.

Peter Biello: So it seems like official poll watchers have a clear chain of command. If they spot a problem, there's a set of steps they need to take to report that problem. Is there a similar set of steps available for the self-appointed poll observers who are just members of the public who are watching from a distance about, you know, if they see something that they feel like might be not right, there's a clear set of steps they can take to report it?

Chris Harvey: I guess that depends because there's really no such thing as a poll observer other than a member of the public. I mean, somebody may — may sort of, you know, deem themselves a poll watcher or a poll observer or an election auditor. People use different terms. If they were to see something, they could certainly, again, step outside of a polling place. They could call the media, they could call a campaign, they could call anybody and say, "Hey, you know, I see this going on at this polling place. Somebody needs to be aware of it." They could certainly bring something to the attention of an elected official, for example, if they were to see a dangerous situation. The problem could come, if a poll observer, or election observer started to interfere with the process. If they started questioning election officials, "Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? Why can't this person do that?" And they sort of insert themselves in the process. That's when it could become problematic. And unfortunately, people that just appoint themselves as election observers or election monitors and go to a polling place may or may not be aware of any of this stuff. And they may think that they can — they can step in and they can intervene and they can get in other people's business when they're voting. And that's not really the way the system is designed. There are specific laws against interfering with elections and depending on to what extent they take it, they could possibly get into that problem.

Peter Biello: So what should people do if they feel a poll watcher is overstepping and getting in the way of their right to vote?

Chris Harvey: Designated poll watcher or a poll observer or both? Or either?

Peter Biello: Let's do both.

Chris Harvey: Certainly anything that a poll watcher does that interferes with the process should be brought to the attention of election official. And frankly, that's the same thing that should happen with a non-designated poll watcher. If a member of the public is there and they're interfering with the process, they should certainly bring it to the attention of the election officials.

Peter Biello: Are poll watchers paid? And if so, who pays them?

Chris Harvey: There's nothing in the code that allows or prohibits poll watchers, if a party or a candidate hires people to work in their campaign, and they choose to pay them like they would pay other members of their campaign. That's a matter between those parties. They're certainly not paid by the state or the county.

Peter Biello: [And could poll] “observers” be paid if a party or candidate wants them to be paid?

Chris Harvey: Presumably, or they could be contracted by somebody, but any payment would be outside of the election system.

Peter Biello: Is there anything else about poll watching, poll observing that you feel is important for the public to know as early voting continues and Nov. 5 approaches?

Chris Harvey: You know, I think it’s important for people to understand — both for people that consider themselves or plan on being poll observers and somebody just wants to go down and see what's going on. I think that's fine. The system is designed to be open to the public and it should be that way. But I think it's really important that people understand that the voting area, the polling place, is really designed and protected by law to be an area where you're not subject to harassment. You're not subject to intimidation, you're not subject to campaigning. You're really supposed to be sort of shrouded from those outside influences. And so if somebody is going down to observe that's one thing. If somebody is going down to try to have an impact, that's a little bit of a different scenario.