When most people think of their experience of voting in person, they may remember other voters at the polls, or the hardworking election officials checking people in and helping people submit their ballots. But in many elections, a third group is often present: poll watchers. Advertisement Poll watchers are ordinary citizens who volunteer to observe elections on behalf of an organization. Many of them do so on behalf of a specific political party. Other volunteers are nonpartisan poll watchers; they observe the action at polling places on behalf of nonpartisan organizations, including domestic groups and international election watchdogs such as the Carter Center or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The United States has not historically relied extensively on international election monitors,

If everything goes smoothly on Election Day, poll monitors’ work will be tedious. They will simply observe voters executing essential democratic functions such as filing into precincts, interacting with poll workers, and casting ballots. Partisan poll monitors will most likely observe ballot tabulation and receive an official copy of the results if they chose to perform a simultaneous tally.