As voters head out to cast their ballots Nov. 3, they will see a number of people inside their polling places such as election officials, other voters, and occasionally, a representative of the news media.
Although voters may not notice them as such, poll watchers also will be in attendance at many polling places keeping a careful eye out and at times possibly even challenging a voter’s legitimacy.
The subject of poll watchers has received heightened attention this year as President Donald Trump has made comments about voting irregularities and has even urged his supporters to go to the polls on Election Day to keep watch.
As recently as the presidential debate on Tuesday, Trump encouraged his voters to do so during an exchange with moderator Chris Wallace, responding to Wallace asking him if he would advise his supporters to be patient should the results of the election not be available immediately.
“I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully because that is what has to happen,” Trump said. “I hope it’s going to be a fair election, and if it’s a fair election, I am 100% on board, but if I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can’t go along with that.”
The president has made numerous claims in recent years alleging widespread voter fraud despite studies that have shown such fraud to be rare. More recently, he has attacked mail-in voting as particularly vulnerable to fraud even though instances of actual mail-in ballot fraud are rare.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, impersonation fraud at the polls accounted for 31 credible cases out of more than 1 billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington D.C., recorded no instances of fraud through impersonation or ballots cast by ineligible voters in Arkansas and had no record of overturned election results from the state.
Of all types of vote fraud, the Heritage Foundation listed three instances of criminal convictions for such fraud in Arkansas between 2002 and 2016 involving one case of duplicate voting and two cases of fraudulent use of absentee ballots, one of which also involved vote buying.
Larry Gray, a Phillips County justice of the peace, was convicted of tampering with at least 25 absentee ballots during the 2002 primary election, the Heritage Foundation said. In 2012, according to the report, former Democratic state Rep. Hudson Hallum and three other Crittenden County men pleaded guilty to committing election fraud by bribing absentee voters and destroying ballots in the District 54 primary, runoff and general elections in 2011. In 2016, the report said, Beebe Council Member David Pruitt pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for voting twice during the 2016 primary.
Safeguards in place designed to prevent absentee ballot fraud include comparisons of the ballot application’s signature and the signature on the registration form at the county clerk’s office. And ballots are mailed only to the applicant at the address on record. Ballots that are picked up in person must be picked up by the voter requesting the ballot or a designated bearer.
Even so, said Daniel Shults, director of the state Board of Election Commissioners, poll watchers can provide eyes and ears for candidates and political parties, and can challenge a voter’s ballot if they have reason to believe a vote is illegitimate. But, regarding Trump’s urging of supporters to be present at the polls on Election Day to “watch very carefully,” Shults said the law has very specific provisions regarding poll watchers.
“For one thing, you can’t just show up at the polls and say I’m a poll watcher,” Shults said.
Arkansas law, Shults said, provides for poll watchers with strict limitations on what they can do, who they can speak to, and what actions they can take if they suspect illegitimate voting.
A political party with a candidate on the ballot may authorize one representative at any given polling site, as may a candidate, or a registered group supporting or opposing a ballot issue, Shults said, with the required authorization form filled out by the candidate, party, or other entity filed with the clerk’s office.
“The poll watcher will need to have a copy of that form executed and file marked with the county clerk when they come to the poll,” he said. “It will designate what poll they can go to, or it can just say all the polls in the county if they want it to.”
Shults said poll watchers are allowed to observe the election officials, to stand close enough to the precinct voter registration lists to hear the voter’s name and observe the signature, compile lists of people voting, and be present at the opening, processing and canvassing of absentee ballots for the purpose of challenging absentee votes in the manner the law authorizes.
Poll watchers also can challenge ballots at the polling site by notifying an election official before the voter signs the registration list and may point out any occurrence believed to be an irregularity or violation of election law to the election sheriff, but they are not allowed to discuss the occurrence unless the election sheriff initiates the conversation.
Poll watchers representing a candidate or party are allowed to be present when the votes are counted, whether the count is conducted at the polling site or a central location, may be present for the counting of absentee ballots, and upon request may inspect any or all ballots when they are being counted.
Shults said poll watchers are not allowed to get within 6 feet of any voting machine or booth and are not allowed to speak to voters inside or within 100 feet of the polling site entrance, and they are not allowed to disrupt the process.
“The only person they should ever talk to are the people who are running the poll or the check-in clerks if they are challenging a voter,” he said. “If they aren’t challenging a voter, they need to be silent or they need to direct any issue they may have to the poll sheriff or supervisor.”
The only circumstance under which a poll watcher is allowed to interrupt is if they challenge a voter, which Shults said would then oblige poll workers to have the voter cast a provisional ballot to be reviewed by the Election Commission.
Jefferson County Election Commissioner Stuart “Stu” Soffer said that in addition to authorized poll watchers, a candidate or party may request an election monitor from the state and report any findings back to the state Election Commission.
“Normally, if a candidate thinks there is going to be some serious hanky-panky, they request a monitor,” Soffer said. “A monitor cannot intercede, but can only report back to the state board.”
Soffer said that in past Jefferson County elections, some poll workers have created problems, which he said was mainly because of inadequate training. He said he has conducted some poll watcher training sessions in the past but this year he said his health has not allowed him to do so.
“These are well-intentioned people who are not trained and don’t understand their role,” he said. “They cannot talk to voters, but yet they do. All the candidate or the party has to do is take the notarized form to the county clerk and have it stamped filed and then they’re a credentialed poll watcher.”
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, impersonation fraud at the polls accounted for 31 credible cases out of more than 1 billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014.