FIRST STATE POLITICS

Unofficial poll watchers won't be allowed inside voting sites

Adam Duvernay
The News Journal

The Delaware Department of Elections will turn away citizens attempting to enter voting locations Tuesday to serve as "poll watchers."

The state allows people credentialed by party officials to serve at polling places as "challengers," but there's no room — legally or otherwise — for average citizens who believe it's their duty to ensure the sanctity of the voting process.

Howard Hansel, a voting machine technician, puts poll listings in voting machines at the New Castle County Department of Elections.

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has made it clear he doesn't trust the election process to be fair unless he wins, and for months he's called on his supporters to go to "certain areas" to act as unofficial poll monitors, ostensibly to limit or identify voter fraud.

“I hope you people can sort of not just vote on the eighth. Go around and look and watch other polling places and make sure that it’s 100 percent fine,” Trump told supporters in Altoona, Pennsylvania, last week. “We’re going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study, make sure other people don’t come in and vote five times.”

On Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's website, the campaign has asked supporters to sign up as "election observers."

On his website, Trump's team created a registration portal for those who want to serve in that capacity. It never has been entirely clear, however, what Trump expects of those he's called on.

Democrats in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona plan on suing Trump's campaign over his call for poll watchers, suggesting the efforts are a means for suppressing the vote for his opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

STORY:Officials balk at 'rigged' election claims

STORY:Delaware party leaders clash over 'rigged' elections

Delaware's Office of the Attorney General issued a statement in mid-August concerning voter intimidation, in which it said no citizens should take it upon themselves to interfere with people attempting to vote, but should report any concerns to state or county election officials.

That office also issued guidance to the department of elections, stating voter intimidation could include: persons other than duly-appointed election officers questioning voters about their credentials; persons impeding or delaying voters by asking for identification, videotaping, photographing or otherwise making visual records of voters or their vehicles; or persons distributing literature at the polls on voter fraud.

Delaware has not seen a significant uptick in people looking to serve as certified poll challengers, according to officials from both parties. But Trump's state campaign chairman says he expects people to show up at polling locations.

Rob Arlett, a Donald Trump campaign chairman in Delaware, discusses the candidacy. Trump won the Delaware primary.

"It's very vital there's confirmation that all votes that are cast are proper, ethical and legal. In the event it sounds otherwise, you have to have somebody that can protest a vote that should not be counted," said Rob Arlett, the Sussex County Councilman running local Trump efforts. "In the end, we are a country of laws and of ethics, and therefore we should ensure people are following the laws."

There's been no formal poll watcher training beyond Trump campaign conference calls with supporters, Arlett said. He said he trusts state employees but says the state should have tighter voter identification laws.

Arlett said official poll watchers should be looking for people who show up with identification other than a state-issued ID, such as an electric bill, or if people are not on voter registration forms. If those volunteers see something fishy, he said they should then tell someone working with the department of elections.

"You never approach the person who's come to vote. You obviously go directly to the personnel," Arlett said. "We all know it's not too difficult to get a fake ID. Ask a teenager."

Stickers at the elections office near New Castle are shown. Claims of a "rigged election" have become a political strategy for GOP candidate Donald Trump.

But those looking to monitor polling locations without official sanctioning from a political party or state need to follow the rules, Arlett said.

Calls from the Trump campaign for people to take that task upon themselves have state election commissioner Elaine Manlove a little concerned. She's called language diminishing the integrity of the state's elections irresponsible and said people who expect to look over the shoulders of those who've come to vote will be disappointed.

"First of all, it's not legal so they're not going to get in the polling place," Manlove said. "It could easily be chaos if everybody who felt like they wanted to go into a polling place could just wander in."

Arlett said he's sure some Delaware residents will head up to watch polls in Philadelphia, one city Trump has suggested has a history and propensity toward voter fraud.

"There are folks from Delaware that have been activated to be part of other efforts in surrounding states, especially in Pennsylvania because that's being watched because it's a swing state," Arlett said. "Our efforts are to ensure we win not only here in Delaware but if there's an opportunity to help in other parts of the country."

But the Keystone State has rules almost identical to the ones in Delaware, according to Pennsylvania Department of State spokeswoman Wanda Murren. Only credentialed poll watchers will be allowed inside voting locations to serve in that capacity.

Delaware election officials aren't planning on doing anything different for Tuesday's vote, Manlove said. No voting machines have been replaced, no extra poll watchers have been assigned and the security procedures — which include roving election employees and state police when necessary — are in place like any other year.

Manlove said she's never experienced a case of voter fraud in her years with the elections department. The 2016 election cycle has been unique in its focus on fraud, she said.

"I've never heard it before this election. You always hear something, but not on this scale. There's always conspiracy theorists, but not on this level," Manlove said.

Contact Adam Duvernay at (302) 324-2785 or aduvernay@delawareonline.com.