When you go to the polls Tuesday, it's a safe bet that people who
have the ability to challenge your fitness to vote will be watching
you.
Those observers, known as poll watchers, include political party
designees authorized to be at a polling location to watch as voters
check in.
Training to be a political poll monitor is often conducted by
outside groups, and Friday a coalition of voter advocates lodged a
formal complaint about the guidance one group has offered.
That group, Texas-based True the Vote, has a Virginia-specific
training manual that critics say is filled with misleading
information about state election law.
In a written complaint to the State Board of Elections,
Virginia's attorney general and the U.S. attorneys assigned to the
state, they highlight several passages in the 44-page booklet they
say contains "numerous and serious errors" about voting procedures.
Those complaining include the left-leaning ProgressVA and
Virginia New Majority, as well as Virginia Common Cause, the
Advancement Project and the Fair Elections Legal Network.
One they pinpoint is a section on when polls close - they're open
from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day - advising that people who
vote after polls close should cast a provisional ballot that's kept
separate from other votes. The manual also notes that Virginia law
allows anyone in line by the time polls close to vote.
That's a conflicting message that could cause problems at the
polls, according to some who signed the letter.
Another complaint is that the wording in the manual on voter
identification laws is imprecise, given changes Virginia made to its
law this year.
"Our concern with the guide is if it's not made explicitly clear
what the law is in Virginia, it could hold up lines on Election Day
and lead to voter confusion" and disruption, said Courtney Mills, a
staff attorney with the Fair Elections Legal Network.
Mills and other letter signatories are requesting that state
election officials remind poll workers that observers who don't
follow state law can be ejected from polling places.
They also want political parties to remind their monitors that
they must obey the law, and ask that True the Vote be told to
immediately get corrected training materials to observers it
trained.
In a statement, True the Vote president Catherine Engelbrecht
called the complaint a "last ditch" effort to keep citizens from
exercising their rights as election observers.
She dismissed the complaints as trifles over graphic design and
layout, saying those with concerns about the training materials
would do better to communicate directly with True the Vote.
The group bills itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit group, but
critics say it is a Tea Party offshoot. It's the subject of a
pending ethics complaint filed by Texans for Public Justice, which
some critics say is a left-wing organization. The group asserts that
True the Vote improperly made political contributions to Republican
causes and candidates.
Now, said TPJ research director Andrew Wheat, the group has
branched out beyond the Lone Star State.
"I suspect a lot of their activities are concentrated in swing
states," he said.
Under Virginia law, a voter can be challenged on the basis of
age, citizenship, residency issues and eligibility.
The challenger must sign an official statement, and the
challenged person may also sign a form asserting that he or she is
eligible to vote.
Monitors do not directly stop election fraud; they record what
they see.
