Tens of thousands of poll monitors, challengers, lawyers and other activist observers are expected to clog voting precincts in battleground states Tuesday in what will probably be the most scrutinized U.S. election in at least 40 years.
Few federal laws govern these largely self-appointed guardians of the voting process, many of whom are brazenly partisan and who range from civil rights activists to amateur videographers. Many are first-time volunteers, hastily trained by new advocacy coalitions. Others have had no training whatsoever.
Confusing rules and lack of federal oversight alarms officials, especially given the intensity of this presidential contest. Particularly in jurisdictions where partisan politics and race have already cleaved deep social divisions, they fear a worst-case scenario where boorish or clueless observers spark a riot.
“People who are doing this care about the election – they’re passionate, and I’d hate to see passion rise to the level of confusion or confrontation,” said DeForest Soaries, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the newly created federal agency in charge of election reform.
Swarms of watchers – as well as pollsters, journalists and political operatives – could overwhelm and discourage voters from casting the very ballots they’re trying to protect. Some compare it to a jam-packed Wal-Mart parking lot dissuading would-be shoppers from even entering the store.
More than 1,300 computer scientists and other technology professionals have signed up to monitor hardware and software on touch-screen voting terminals through VerifiedVoting.org, a group started by a Stanford University e-voting critic.
The Justice Department is mobilizing, too. It’s dispatching more than 1,000 observers – nearly twice the 516 who monitored the 2000 election. They’ll help secure ballot boxes, set up emergency communications systems and locate backup polling places in case of a terrorist attack or other catastrophe.
In some swing-state jurisdictions, watchers may outnumber voters. Some polling places Florida’s Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and Ohio’s Cuyahoga County are bracing for two or three dozen monitors each.
Although state regulations differ widely, monitors typically must follow the same rules journalists and candidates face – they can’t enter a polling place unless asked, and must stay at least 50 feet from the entrance.
In Ohio, more than 2,000 Democrats will watch for voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, while Republicans recruited about 3,600 people, many in the Democratic strongholds of Cleveland, Toledo and Dayton, who will look for fraudulent voting.
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