united-states voting
Would using poll watchers to hold down voter turnout from opposing party in battleground areas be illegal?
<p>I have heard something in the news about 50,000 poll watchers being sent by a specific political party that has received fewer votes in most of the presidential elections since 1990 and received almost ten million fewer votes in a House midterm election with historic turnout from its opponents two years ago. I am NOT going to name it because it is more powerful without the name. Let's say that in 2024, this party has lost the midterms. They want to send poll watchers out to heavily populated areas in competitive/battleground states that vote heavily against them in order to swing the Electoral College in their candidate's favor. Would abusing these poll watchers in order to manipulate electoral outcomes be illegal?</p>
<p>Note: I am NOT speculating on anything. This is just a hypothetical. This is a political and legal question about the legality of trying to restrict voting. This does not just involve voter ID laws. It is many things together.</p>

<p>Each state has its own election laws, so you will get 50 different answers depending on what state you are interested in (perhaps 49, since Washington doesn't have polling places - depends on what you mean by &quot;poll watcher&quot;). <a href="https://www.eac.gov/election-officials/poll-watchers" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This page</a> is a starter list of legal resources. <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/policies-for-election-observers.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This page</a> starts you on deconstructing this notion of &quot;poll watcher&quot;. Colorado is one state that explicitly allows partisan observers, <a href="https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/rule_making/CurrentRules/8CCR1505-1/Rule8.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here are the rules</a>.</p>
<p>No person is compelled to be an observer, so I don't understand who you think might be abusing a poll watcher. Perhaps you are referring to the possibility that an election official will prevent an observer from doing their job. Or perhaps you are thinking that being a poll watcher abuses the intent of some law. Whatever you have in mind, there are laws in each state that say what is allowed and what is forbidden, so you have to address this at a local level.</p>
<p>No state has a requirement that observers must come from or swear allegiance to the majority party of that polling jurisdiction (e.g. county, or precinct). Any attempt by election officials, or anyone else, to block observers from the minority party would be rebuffed by the courts. The courts will not attempt to divine inner motivations for sending an observer. Most states allow partisan observers. <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/documents/SOS_ED_2_CHALLENGERS_77017_7.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Michigan</a> distinguishes &quot;challengers&quot; and &quot;poll watchers&quot;, and there are distinct rules and powers for the two sets. A crucial difference is that a watcher cannot legally challenge a claimed right to vote or a precinct board action, but a challenger can. There are rules of conduct imposed on both kinds of observers, one of them being that you cannot challenge a voter for the purpose of annoying or delaying the voter. This is a misdemeanor (a crime) under <a href="https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-168-727.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MCL 168.727</a>, and as a criminal prohibition, the state would have to prove intent beyond reasonable doubt. Blog posts by the observer might provide sufficient evidence, but speculation by the majority party would not.</p>
