MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Wednesday heard from voters and voting rights groups on its proposed new rules for election observers.
Election observers, known in some states as poll watchers, have complained that Wisconsin’s decentralized elections system makes for inconsistent rules for how they can observe voting across the state. The rulemaking process the commission began in September 2022 is meant to give clarity to the more than 1,800 local clerks who run elections.
“Whether you’re there to observe elections, or whether you’re there to vote, or whether you’re there to just help facilitate people voting, everyone will be playing by the same set of rules and they’ll be transparent,” said Jay Heck, executive director of the nonpartisan government accountability group Common Cause in Wisconsin.
Common Cause was among the many nonpartisan and partisan groups asked to sit on the elections commission’s advisory committee for writing the new rules.
In Wisconsin, anyone can show up to a polling place or central count location on the day of an election and check in with an elections official in order to observe.
The rules the commission has proposed detail what parts of the voting process observers have access to, set out guidelines for clerks to remove disruptive observers and limit crowds that interfere with voting, and ensure that observers will have access to bathrooms and seating at polling locations. The new rules would also address what members of the media can do in polling places.
The role of election observers has been an important part of election officials’ conversations on how to fight rising elections misinformation. Studies have shown that the presence of observers can increase trust in elections, especially if both political parties are at the polls. However, voting experts have also raised concerns about voter intimidation from poll watchers.
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