Liberia: The Poll Watchers and Poll Workers: Who’s Watching Them?
Liberia is poised to hold its 4th successive democratic election to vote for President, Vice President, and some members of the National Legislature both in the House of Senate and the House of Representatives if all things hold constant as we keep our fingers crossed, so to speak.
These presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for October 10, 2023. They will be conducted in all fifteen political subdivisions of Liberia. Going into these elections are several political parties and independent candidates vying for positions in the Executive Mansion, the presidential seat and positions in the Capitol Building, the seat of the legislators.
These elections, scheduled for 10 October 2023, will be run and supervised by a Body called the National Elections Commission, NEC. This Body is supervised by five Commissioners with one of the five named or appointed as the Commission Chairperson. The Commission is authorized and empowered under the 1986 Liberian constitution, under Autonomous Public Commissions at Chapter X, Article 89B.
The Commission is principally responsible to run periodic elections as may be necessary from time to time as vacancy occurs in the legislature due to death or other reasons which necessitate the filling of such vacancy, and to organize general and presidential elections every six years. These are the core functions, saved for regulating and supervising the affairs of political parties and independent candidates.
The elections scheduled for 10 October 2023, are perhaps the most significant elections since the 2005 elections which brought former president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to power, when Liberia held its first post war democratic elections for president and members of the legislature.
In those elections that brought Madame Sirleaf to power, there were at least 20 other political parties vying against her Unity party, UP. Amongst those twenty or so political parties, was the Congress for Democratic Change, CDC, a party comprised mainly of the downtrodden of the nation, and perhaps by all accounts, the most formidable opponent to the Madame Sirleaf’s UP. However, The CDC lost to the UP in the second round of balloting when no party got a 50% plus 1, in the first round of balloting, the required minimum to win in the first round of voting.
The CDC did not come to State power until 2017 after Madam Sirleaf had finished her constitutional term limit. Howbeit, with the “hand” of Madame Sirleaf as it is authoritatively stated in his book, George Weah, the Footballer President by the internationally acclaimed award winning journalist, Rodney Sieh. I have not had the time to verify this assertion from neither Madame Sirleaf nor from any member of the CDC. The CDC has had six years in the executive mansion. Come 10 October 2023, they will be coming to the Liberian people for a second mandate — whether or not this second mandate is deserved, is not my call to make- the Liberian people, who, in their wisdom granted the CDC the past six years will be the ones to make that call. We wait to see and to hear. But for me, I have my opinion which I am keeping to myself just yet.
Now to the crux of this write up. Looking at the role of Poll Watchers; and the role of Poll Workers; and best of all, who is watching the Poll watchers?
Generally, Poll Watchers can be referred to as partisan citizens, because they act at the behest of their political party or candidates. Poll watchers are to ensure that their party has a fair chance of winning an election. They are appointed by their political parties or candidates to observe the election process at polling places and to observe as ballots are reviewed and counted. They look out for irregularities or improper voting practices and keep track of voters turn out for their party or candidates.
The NEC should have rules governing the comportment of Poll watchers as to what qualifications and training they must have; who can serve as poll watcher and at which location or polling place a Poll watcher can serve. In addition to NEC’s rules governing Poll watchers, political parties and candidates themselves, should have rules to govern the activities of their poll watchers as some poll watchers could intimidate or influence voters one way or the other. Political parties should ensure that poll watchers should be prohibited from interacting with any voter at voting location and poll watchers should be restricted to a particular location and distance from the ballot box or polling box.
Poll watchers should be trained on how to keep track of voting irregularities and taught how to document these irregularities to serve as evidence in the event the vote is challenged in court or before the commission. Political parties and Candidates should call for their Poll watchers to be present and be allowed to observe the setting up of voting materials and equipment at every point of the voting process- from the installation of voting boxes, voting stalls, and up to the counting of ballots.
Poll Watchers should be taught to observe and be cognizant of other activities during the voting process. Poll watchers should observe parties or individuals campaigning too close to a polling place; they should also look out for persons or party agents attempting or bribing voters to vote for a particular candidate; Poll watchers should be taught how to observe election officials attempting or tampering with voting equipment or ballot papers; Poll watchers should be taught to identify party agents intimidating voters not to vote; poll watchers should be trained on how to spot election workers giving improper or incorrect instructions to a voter in an attempt to sway that voter to a particular candidate; and most importantly, poll watchers should be taught in the various methods employed to transfer ballot boxes from one location to another, because it is at this point of transferring ballot boxes, whether in the same voting precinct, or room, or to a central location, that most voting irregularities take place. Poll Watchers should keep their eyes on the activities of Poll Workers and meticulously document and immediately or at the soonest, report to their party officials, as these reports could be used as evidence in case of protest in the outcome of the election results.
The general idea behind Poll watching is that it helps to promote transparency and openness by their presence. Poll Watchers are not just individuals who show up at the polling place on Election Day, but are party agents who are an integral part of the candidate’s success at the ballot box; they ensure transparency and report voting irregularities.
Given the enormous significant of Poll Watchers, what should be the criteria for selecting a Poll watcher? Considering my over thirty years of law Enforcement experience, both in the United States of America and that of the Republic of Liberia, where I served on the Los Angeles Police Department, LAPD in Los Angeles, California, rising from a Beat Cop to the rank of Senior Detective; and in Liberia, previously serving as Deputy Inspector General of Police for Operations and Deputy Inspector General for Administration respectively in the Liberia National Police department, LNP. I current serve as an instructor at the Liberia National Police Training Academy. In both my past services in the United States of America and my current service with the LNP, I have come to gain valuable experiences and knowledge in election matters and security, for which I can speak on these matters from a professional perspective.
Poll Watchers are not Poll Workers.
There is a difference. These are two distinct occupations.
Poll workers are generally paid election workers; they are hired by the NEC. Their job is to ensure a smooth voting process and to some extent, checking in voters, directing voters to the proper voting booth and generally making sure that things run smoothly as planned. On the other hand, Poll Watchers are typically political party or independent candidate appointees who serve as the eyes and ears of their candidates to ensure that there are no problems at their assigned polling place. Poll workers, on the other hand, are paid election officials who must ensure that the rights of each eligible voter are protected; they are essential to the democratic process. Poll workers should undergo mandatory election workers’ training and they should be registered to vote in the precinct to which they are assigned to work.
A Poll Worker should not be a professed or identified member of a political party or should not be a kin to a candidate in the precinct assigned. Poll watchers on the other hand, hold political allegiance to a particular political party or candidate.
Some points to consider before selecting one to be a Poll Watcher:
A Poll watcher must not be a person who will show up on the day of the elections and jump into a Poll Watcher’s jacket; a poll watcher must be identified and approved in advance usually at least two to three weeks before elections day;
The political party or independent candidate must set up a special committee and preferably headed by an individual having some law enforcement background and familiar with the process of background checking and election formalities;
Poll Watchers should not be active members of law enforcement agency, because there is a potential to intimidate voters and even those serving as poll workers and other election officials; political parties should be on the lookout for such individuals;
Poll Watchers, once identified and cleared from background checks, should be registered with the election commission-it is my belief that every candidate is allowed to have at least two Poll watchers at every voting place.
As the name suggests, Poll watchers are to watch with eagle eyes, voting activities at their assigned ballot box and not get involve in other activities which could distract them from the attention needed to be paid to the voting process, as unscrupulous candidates may have their party agents who double as poll watchers or poll workers who scouts for critically observant Poll watchers to distract them from their duties; once distracted, these unscrupulous agents are now able to manipulate the system in their own favour.
Poll watchers should be observant of what I call “voters frequency” — persons who are tending to vote more than one time. A Poll Watcher should note this activity and report same to election officials and also to party officials;
Poll Watchers should be on the lookout for persons suspected of being an unqualified voter; for example, foreigners trying to vote for a particular candidate in such a case poll watchers should challenge such a voter; if the challenge is not successful, and if the person insists on voting, a provisional ballot should be given to the person. An investigation will be conducted on site and if such person is truly a legitimate voter, the vote previously provisionally cast would then be admitted into the general tally.
Poll watchers should be taught to do vote counting; generally the number of persons allowed to vote in a particular voting room or location is not a very huge number; the poll watcher should carry a small pocket size note book to keep record of the number of persons voting in that particular room or box.
Though some may consider it a form of voter intimidation, poll watchers should be intelligently aggressive and not be passive. Poll watchers must be able to challenge activities of prospective voters who they feel are trying to cheat the process. In doing so, poll watchers should approach these prospective voters and directly challenge them unless a NEC official forbids them from doing so. But if this aggressive challenge is forbidden, then the poll watcher should immediately take such matter up with the NEC official and ensure that the issue of the person challenged is resolved before that person is allowed to vote.
Poll watchers should be taught to spot those coming in with smart phones to photograph ballot papers. This is a subtle evidence of candidate vote buying; poll watchers should also challenge such practices. Once challenged, it is certain that such an activity would be halted.
Poll watchers should also be on the lookout for persons wearing or sporting party paraphernalia; Poll watchers observing such activity, should immediately call the attention of the NEC official, because, party paraphernalia and other party logos are not allowed within certain distance of voting areas.
Let’s look at some ways in which to ensure that those volunteering as Poll watchers are not wolves cocked in sheep skin. Political parties or independent candidates should ensure that amongst their poll watchers, there are also “poll watchers”- in short, security on security, SOS. This sound like double speaks, but it’s not.
This is how SOS works: before one is considered as a Poll watcher, that person makes an application whether in person or in writing; once that person is identified, the party committee charged with the responsibility of vetting poll watchers would do the background check, verifying that person’s party loyalty and affiliation. Once the vetting processes are over, and the poll watcher is assigned, the poll watchers’ vetting committee would then scout a particular individual from within the party structure to serve as Poll Watchers’ Security Monitor. Such a monitor would be assigned to a particular precinct monitoring the activities of the assigned poll watchers.
Once it is observed that those poll watchers, whose activities are inimical to party interest, are then aggressively pursued and removed from the voting place and immediately replaced. Those removed are then reassigned to activities that are not related to ballot observation or ballot counting or ballot transportation.
A candidate could run a very good and successful campaign, but where that candidate has not invested in credible and trustworthy poll watchers, unfortunately, all efforts put into that intensive and successful campaign could be lost due to ineffective or untrustworthy poll watchers.
Therefore, the campaign to select or choose poll watchers should be one that must be taken with the outmost care and diligence. Given the enormous resources and energy employed to run a successful campaign, it is foolhardy to neglect to organize an efficient team of persons who are loyal and trustworthy Poll watchers.
As the saying goes, your poll watchers could make or break your election.
About the author:
Al Karlay is a graduate of the Monrovia Central High School: he holds a B.A. in Criminal Justice Administration, from the California state University in California, USA; Al also holds a JD in Law from the West Los Angeles School of Law, California, USA; he further holds several certificates and Diplomas in various aspects of Law enforcement: he is a graduate of the Los Angeles Police Department Training Academy, LAPD: he also holds a diploma from the Metropolitan Police Training Academy in London, United Kingdom: the author is also an Instructor at the African Methodist Episcopal Zion University in the College of Criminal Justice Administration : Al is currently an instructor at the Liberian National Police Training Academy in Monrovia, Liberia.
The author can be reached at alkarlay36@gmail.com.