Bullies at the Ballot Box - Demos

State laWS on ChallengIng regIStered VoterS
on eleCtIon day and Poll WatCher BehaVIor
this section discusses the interactions of
people inside the polling place on Election
Day who are neither election officials nor
there simply to cast a vote. We analyze the
laws regarding who can be at the polls and
who can challenge voters and the process by which a
challenge can be made and the validity of the challenge
is decided. Some states allow poll watchers to be
present inside the polls to observe the election but do
not allow poll watchers to interact with voters. Other
states allow any registered voter to challenge another
voter’s eligibility when he or she shows up at the poll
to vote. A voter’s eligibility to vote can be challenged
on Election Day in Colorado, Florida, Missouri,
Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio (but
only by an election official) Pennsylvania, and Virginia,
but not in Texas.
We also make recommendations for best
practices in regulating Election Day challenges. States
must protect voters’ rights in the face of organized
attempts to police polling places in ways that may
intimidate eligible voters or unfairly target particular
groups of voters for exclusion.
ColoraDo
Colorado’s laws preventing improper Election Day
challenges are excellent. In Colorado, voter challenges
are permitted on Election Day by any poll watcher,
election judge, or eligible elector of the same precinct. 189
Challenges must be must be made in the presence of
the person being challenged 190 and must be made in
writing, under oath and signed by the challenger under
penalty of perjury. 191 The challenger must set forth
the specific factual basis for the challenge. 192 Under
Colorado law, the bases for a challenge are citizenship,
age, residency, and “all other questions to the person
18 • Bullies at the Ballot Box | September 2012
challenged as may be necessary to test the person’s
qualifications as an eligible elector.” 193
Depending on the basis for a challenge, a voter
challenged on Election Day may be asked questions as
prescribed by law. 194 If the challenged voter answers
satisfactorily and signs an oath attesting to her
eligibility to vote, the voter may vote a regular ballot.
If the voter does not answer the questions he may still
vote a provisional ballot. 195 Colorado law is pro-voter
because the law provides for stringent requirements
for challenges that provide some accountability. It is
helpful that the law is specific about the process for
determining the challenge. It sets out the questions to
be asked of the voter, and by answering these questions
under oath any eligible voter may cast a ballot that will
be counted.
In Colorado, any eligible elector other than
a candidate who has been designated by appropriate
party officials can serve as a poll watcher. 196 A poll
watcher doesn’t have to be a resident of the county
in which he is designated as long as he is an eligible
elector in the Colorado. 197 Poll watchers and persons
other than the election officials and those admitted
for the purpose of voting are not permitted within the
immediate voting area or within six feet of the voting
equipment or voting booths and the ballot box, except
by authority of the election judges or election officials
and then only when necessary to enforce the law. 198 Poll
watchers are not allowed to have cell phones, cameras,
recording devices, laptops, or PDAs (Palm Pilot,
Blackberry, etc.) in the polling place. 199
In addition to poll workers, poll watchers,
and voters, the only other people who may be present
in the polling station are an Official Observer, who
is appointed by the Secretary of State or the federal
government and approved by the Secretary of State,