Election officials make untrained poll watchers afraid read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1362-election-officials-make-untrained-poll-watchers-afraid

Elections are generally monitored by multiple groups, from officially sanctioned and party-organized poll watchers with special training to lawyers working on behalf of the candidates. Clinton’s campaign, for instance, has been recruiting via Facebook for attorneys and law students to watch polls.

Elections officials across the country are bracing for a deluge of eager but inexperienced poll watchers, being trained on how to handle conflict and confrontation, and even are preparing for mass shootings when voters cast ballots on Nov. 8.

Officials say they’re confident the party or campaign-sanctioned watchers will follow the rules, which generally prohibit direct confrontations of voters within polling locations.

What they’re worried about, however, are untrained but enthusiastic members of the public who don’t actually understand the specific rules governing elections. Those kinds of monitors, said Arapahoe County (Colo.) Clerk and RecorderMatt Crane, are “unhelpful.”

Crane has already trained his staff to deal with a potential mass shooting, political conflicts and even how to handle campaigns handing out free pizza to voters waiting in line.

He said every presidential election draws heightened attention to voting access, and his staff spent more time preparing for this election than any of the four previous ones he’s worked.

The unusual attention to voting has already prompted Pennsylvania officials to remind poll workers that voters are permitted to carry firearms while voting in most parts of the state, with exceptions for schools and courthouses.

In Michigan, Republican Party officials say they’re “significantly ahead” of their usual recruiting goals for poll watchers, and they're hoping to cover more than 700 precincts with party-affiliated watchers. 

Those watchers are being instructed not to engage with voters, and instead just make sure they either produce valid identification or sign affidavits of identify. Michigan has more than 4,800 precincts.

In Colorado, which Trump has repeatedly visited because he considers it critical to a victory, Crane said he welcomes calls for transparency in the elections process. But he said the best way to ensure transparency is for concerned citizens to undergo party-sponsored poll-watcher training.

 In some cases, that training includes required certification for viewing and handling personal information, such as home addresses and signatures.

Republican nominee Donald Trump's unprecedented criticism of a “rigged" election process and his refusal to say he'll concede if he loses are concerning elections officials across the nation, who say they're preparing for a contentious day. 

Trump also has called upon his supporters to monitor election sites even signing up volunteers on his campaign website but he hasn’t specified what kind of fraud he believes will happen at the polls.

Federal law requires that voting materials be printed in alternate languages if enough people in that area don’t speak English fluently, because speaking English isn't a legal voting requirement. Among the alternate languages: Inupiat, Cherokee and Choctaw, languages spoken by Native American tribes.

Election "rigging" claims reached new heights during the final presidential debate on Wednesday night, when Trump declined to say whether he would accept the election results. On Thursday, he said he’d accept them if he wins.

 

"I will look at it at the time," Trump replied, citing the "corrupt media," and claimed without specific evidence that millions of people are registered to vote who shouldn't be.