General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Trump campaign planning to deploy 100K attorneys, volunteers to monitor vote counts [View all]Ms. Toad
(34,338 posts)In three countries, and dozens of precincts. Being an observer (including the restrictions) is taken very seriously by election officials. If they don't act to remove a badly behaved Republican observer promptly, I have a direct line to our "war room" and (in the main county I observe in) to the county board of elections. They will be there in no more than drive time plus 5 minutes to take care of the matter.
In the Democratic training, the main take-away is that if we get ourselves kicked out, we are dead to the party. In Ohio, observers can't be replaced mid-day, since we are registered with the state for a specific precinct, and cannot serve in a different precinct. So getting kicked out means no Democratic observer to report problems and help troubleshoot for the remainder of the day. The same would be true for Republican observers.
When I'm sworn in I've been warned by more than one PEO that I am not permitted to speak with, or approach, any voter. This warning has come from Democratic PEOs who know they are swearing in a Democratic observer.