Who can challenge voters at Pa. polls?
As of Friday, the Trump presidential campaign had requested 352 certificates to monitor polling places in Washington County, and U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, running unopposed for an eighth, two-year term in Congress, had asked for 80.
According to state law, each candidate can appoint two watchers per precinct, of which Washington County has 176.
That was in stark contrast to Greene County, where neither the Trump nor Clinton campaigns had petitioned the elections office as of Friday afternoon to have anyone monitor the polls on their behalf.
However, the Democratic Party of Greene County received 88 certificates for poll watchers, two for each of the county’s 44 precincts.
Observing polling places and the counting of votes in Pennsylvania has been a theme Trump has repeated when campaigning here since his nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
According to an Associated Press report, “Trump has repeatedly questioned the integrity of the nation’s voting system, an unprecedented assertion by a modern presidential candidate. He warned his supporters to keep a close eye on the polls so the ‘election is not stolen from us.’ “
At an Oct. 10 rally in Wilkes-Barre, Trump told supporters that he wanted every vote “counted 100 percent” on Nov. 8. He added that his supporters had to be vigilant so the White House “is not taken away from us.”
“The celebrity businessman repeated his claim that the ‘system is rigged.’ Repeated studies have shown there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud across the nation,” the AP story said.
Candidates and political parties are permitted by law to have watchers present at polling places.
State Rep. Rick Saccone, a Republican who represents parts of the Mon Valley in Washington and Allegheny counties, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 29, which would amend the state’s Election Code to allow watchers to observe polling places anywhere in the state, not just in the county in which they live.
“This bill protects Pennsylvania voters and ensures that poll watchers will be available at more voting places,” Saccone said in a June news release.
The state House and Senate, both controlled by Republicans, are scheduled to reconvene today, and a vote to fast-track the bill before Nov. 8, Election Day, is possible. It is not clear whether there is sufficient support for the measure in the Legislature to override a potential veto by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
Others are concerned that certified poll watchers, among others, could overstep their observation duties and become a vehicle for voter suppression because the state Election Code, on the books since 1937, says any qualified elector, election officer, overseer or watcher can challenge any registered voter “as to his identity … as to his continued residence in the election district or as to any alleged violation of the provisions of this act.”
The law goes on to say that a voter, once challenged “shall produce at least one qualified elector of the election district as a witness who shall make affidavit of his identity or continued residence in the election district.”
The Pennsylvania Department of State’s 2008 summation on poll watching states, “None of the statutory provisions outlined in this document permit watchers, candidates or their attorneys to interfere with, hinder or unlawfully delay a district election board or the county board of elections in the conduct of its duties. Neither do any of these provisions permit watchers, candidates or attorneys to harass or intimidate voters or election officials.”
Greene County Elections Director Tina Kiger said she disagreed with the legislation and preferred that poll watchers come from their home county.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Kiger said. “You’re bringing in people who don’t know our county.”
The county commissioners are not on the ballot this year, so they comprise the Washington County Election Board and are responsible for overseeing the election. “I think in Washington County, we have enough procedures in place to ensure fraud is not committed. I think the individuals who are serving do a good job,” said Diana Irey Vaughan, vice chairman of the Washington County board of commissioners and election board.
She and Larry Maggi, chairman of both the board of commissioners and election board, have run for both commissioner and Congress. Irey Vaughan also ran for state treasurer four years ago.
Both have used poll watchers when they are running, but Irey Vaughan, a Republican who has been on the ballot eight times in the past 21 years, said her motive in using watchers “is to track voter turnout so we could get likely voters to the polls.” Those who haven’t appeared at a poll or cast an absentee ballot can expect a phone call urging them to vote.
Maggi first ran for sheriff in 1997, defeating incumbent Samuel J. Secreet in the Democratic primary in an era when the county used punch-card ballots.
“We didn’t see any wrongdoing, and I’m not impugning anyone from that era,” Maggi said earlier in October. “But sheriffs’ deputies transport ballot boxes, and being relatively new in the political arena, that caused me some angst.”
Neither said they instructed their watchers to challenge the validity of a potential voter’s registration status.
Maggi views the conduct of a free and fair election as “the most sacred job that we have. It’s the basis of our democracy.”
Trump, speaking in Altoona in August, urged suspicious supporters on Election Day to “call up law enforcement. And we have to have the sheriffs and the police chiefs and everybody watching.”
As a former sheriff and state trooper, Maggi has a unique perspective on law enforcement’s involvement at the polling place.
“The sheriff has the power and authority and the duty to answer any calls at a polling place,” he said. “A police officer has a right to go to a poll if a crime was committed. Police, unless they are on duty and in uniform, are not permitted (at a poll) unless there’s a violation of the law. A police officer can’t go to a poll and sit there and chat.”
Maggi said that as a trooper, he was called to a polling place in the 1990s “and we referred it to the sheriff. Two voting factions on the ballot intermingled inside. There was some question about how close they were allowed to be to the door. It wasn’t a crime, it was an election code violation. Sheriffs have a lot of authority as officers of the court.”
If the “intermingling” became physical, rising to harassment, simple assault or worse, then a police officer would respond to the incident.
“I have not heard anyone alleging voter fraud in Washington County, which is what we’re responsible for,” Irey Vaughan said.
Washington County Elections Director Larry Spahr said he is not aware of a watcher in Washington County demanding voters’ proof of residency at polling places, but he recalls hearing of watchers doing this and slowing down the voting process in neighboring Allegheny County during the 2004 presidential contest.
“If one did, a voter would have the right to complete a provisional ballot if, for example, they’re in the wrong precinct, and they demand one,” Spahr said.
“We process provisional ballots just like we do absentees. If a person’s name is not in a poll book, for whatever reason, you can vote a provisional ballot.”
Spahr, decades ago, was a watcher in Union Township on behalf of local candidates whose names appeared on paper ballots. He observed the vote count at the precinct level, and noted that when the polls close, all who are on the premises are locked in until ballot materials are on their way to the Courthouse Square office building for countywide tabulation.
Greene County Bureau Chief Mike Jones contributed to this report.