AUSTIN, Texas — We’re just a week away from Election Day and while voters are at the polls, they’ll see all kinds of people helping out, including poll workers, poll watchers and poll monitors.
Unlike poll workers, who are hired by counties, and poll watchers, who are hired by political candidates, poll monitors are nonpartisan and stay outside the polling location.
Here’s a breakdown of the difference between the three:
- Poll workers: Hired by the county, check in voters and assist with voting equipment, paid hourly
- Poll watchers: Hired by political candidates/parties, observe the election process inside without disrupting voters, trained by the Secretary of State
- Poll monitors: Nonpartisan, stay outside the electioneering line to talk to voters about experience inside and answer legal questions, trained by voters’ rights organizations, volunteers
Poll monitors exist statewide in Texas. Locally, the ACLU of Texas works with several voters’ rights organizations in the state and nationally to sign up volunteers to be poll monitors.
As they’re talking to voters outside, they’ll help with anything related to figuring out voter ID, eligibility and registration, to making sure the polling locations are accessible for voters with disabilities.
To make sure voting is going smoothly and according to the law, poll monitors also direct voters to a national hotline 866-OUR-VOTE, which has attorneys and legal experts on standby.
“If there’s something that they’d like to report, if there’s a question that I wouldn’t be able to answer, we direct them to the – it’s 866-OUR-VOTE hotline, and there’s legal experts on the other end of that who are trained on Texas election law,” said Mary Ibarra, a poll monitor and voting rights strategist for the ACLU of Texas.
Attorneys are able to answer voters’ questions in multiple different languages. All voters have to do is call or text 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) for assistance in English. For Spanish, call or text 888-839-8682.
Ibarra has been volunteering as a poll monitor for the last two years in Central Texas and enjoys helping voters understand the complexities of the Texas Election Code.
“It can be an intimidating process for a lot of folks, and so, being able to have the ability to help folks understand the voting process a little bit better and feel a lot more comfortable about casting their ballot is really important to me,” Ibarra said.
Poll monitors have also been helping voters find other locations that may have shorter lines.
If you want to be a poll monitor for this election, there is still time. The ACLU of Texas is holding two virtual training sessions this week, plus one on Saturday. The sessions are an hour and a half long, where the group trains poll monitors in the intricacies of the Texas Election Code and how to answer common questions people may have while voting.
You can find more information on how to register and attend the virtual trainings on the ACLU of Texas’ website.