by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

October 24, 2024

If you’re one of the more than 2.2 million Georgians who have already voted as of Thursday evening, you may have seen a poll watcher or two hanging out at your precinct.

If you cast your ballot at the C.T. Martin Natatorium and Recreation Center in Atlanta Thursday afternoon, one of those poll watchers was Dolly Katz, a retired public health worker who signed up to monitor polls for the Democratic Party for the first time this year.

“I didn’t want to wake up the morning after the election and say there was something I could have done that I didn’t do,” she said.

Both major political parties can assign up to two poll watchers for each precinct, while independent candidates can assign one. The watchers, who must complete training with their party about the rules they are to follow, are able to enter polling places to look out for and report irregularities or problems.

Poll watchers are not to be confused with poll monitors, who are not affiliated with a party and are typically stationed outside polling places and do not go in.

Katz, who has worked four shifts so far, said she was happy to report no problems.

“Everything was smooth and everything was according to the requirements, and I saw nothing of concern,” she said. “I was very impressed with the way things were done and with how well organized everything was and how dedicated the poll workers were.”

“I’m coming away from this, If there was ever any doubt in my mind, which there really isn’t, but feeling that the system is working and that the election is free and fair,” she said.

Republican former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler agreed. The founder of Greater Georgia, a conservative election integrity group, was stationed inside the rec center at the same time as Katz and reported similar positive signs.

Loeffler is a statewide poll watcher, one of up to 25 appointed by each major party who can observe polling at any precinct in the state, but is subject to the same rules about non-interference as other watchers.

“Any of the issues were resolved quickly,” she said, speaking to the media under a shady tree outside the requisite 150-foot no-campaigning zone near the rec center. “My questions were answered promptly and sufficiently. Voter ID was being checked. And we saw lots of activity at the polls, no lines, and what we’ve seen here is that’s all the result of the tremendous efforts that have been undertaken to secure our elections in 2024 and leading up to it since 2020.”

In 2020, former president Donald Trump narrowly lost his campaign for re-election in Georgia and nationally and claimed that the election was rigged, a claim that has not stood up to multiple recounts or court cases.

Following Trump’s loss, Loeffler also narrowly lost her seat in a runoff election in which the unfounded belief that Georgia’s election system is rigged for Democrats kept some Republican voters at home, helping to give Democrats the majority in the U.S. Senate. After that election, the GOP-led Legislature passed sweeping election reform laws.

Part of Loeffler’s motivation is to prevent the GOP faithful who still harbor doubts about the 2020 election from kneecapping Trump or other Republican candidates this year.

“The worst thing that could happen is people have apathy and they don’t turn out to vote,” she said. “And that’s our biggest concern is that people need to come out to vote, preferably vote early, bank your vote so that we can go on to that next voter who may not have turned out yet, get the vote out, really just swamp the vote, and if we have an unprecedented turnout, then everyone will know that they had their choice and their chance to be heard.”

Loeffler said she is “pretty confident” in the election.

“I’m pretty confident in this election and, you know, we have to make sure that people, if they do have concerns, that they voice those concerns now, and that they’re able to be investigated, and there is a process,” she said. “The state party and the RNC have undertaken a really unprecedented effort to coordinate between having poll watchers, a legal apparatus and an operation that has been active since 2020 and making sure that people understand the processes, and then what’s left is now getting out the vote.”

Atlanta Democratic Rep. Saira Draper, who is also an attorney and voting rights advocate, said for poll watchers, the best days are the ones where nothing interesting happens.

“We tell them they’ve had a good day if it’s like watching paint dry,” she said.

“I think for the most part, if people go in there with good intentions, they’re going to walk out just as Sen. Loeffler did, saying that our poll workers are doing exactly what their jobs are and following the law,” she added.

Draper said problems at voting sites are very rare, and she’s hopeful Georgia’s poll watchers will all be very bored through Election Day on Nov. 5 and then go back home with renewed faith in the system.

“Having transparent elections increases voter confidence, which is why we have been sending our poll observers to observe elections throughout the years, and with every person that goes and observes an election and sees that it works as intended, it’s one more person that has that extra degree of confidence in our elections,” she said.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and X.