Election Worker Safety and Privacy

Concerns about election workers’ safety and privacy have been reported since the 2020 election in news reports and testimony before House and Senate committees. Some election workers have raised concerns about their physical safety while performing official duties, as well as threats to their safety and privacy outside the workplace and related psychological effects. Those concerns, along with a perceived increase in politically motivated job scrutiny, have led some to leave, or consider leaving, their roles.

Federal law prohibits certain types of intimidation of or interference with election workers, including intimidation to discourage serving as a poll watcher or election official or intimidation as a result of such service (18 U.S.C. §245); interference by members of the Armed Forces with election officials’ exercise of their duties (18 U.S.C. §593); and intimidation for helping voters register (52 U.S.C. §20511) or vote (52 U.S.C. §§10307, 20511). Many states have laws that address other threats to election workers, such as through privacy protections for election commissioners. More general laws—such as prohibitions against voter intimidation (e.g., 52 U.S.C. §§10101, 10307, 20511) or harassing or threatening interstate communications—might also apply to some conduct.

Some state and local officials have responded to recent reports of threats to election workers with administrative action or legislative proposals. Election officials have included local law enforcement in poll worker trainings, for example, and implemented new security measures in their offices. State legislators have introduced or enacted new prohibitions or protections, including enacted state measures such as a New Hampshire law that prohibits intimidating election officials to interfere with their work, an Oregon law that extends existing privacy protections to election workers, and a Nevada law that provides for new protections against election official doxing and intimidation.

Read the full CRS report here.

In Texas, recent and related changes in the Texas Election Code resulted from House Bill 3107 (87th Leg., R.S., effective September 1, 2021) and Senate Bill 1 (87th Leg., 2nd C.S., effective December 2, 2021).

As amended by SB 1, Section 33.056 of the Code provides that a poll watcher is entitled to sit or stand near enough to see and hear the election officers conducting the observed activity, except as otherwise prohibited by Chapter 33. Except as provided by Section 33.057( b), a poll watcher may not be denied free movement where election activity is occurring within the location at which the watcher is serving. A poll watcher who is entitled to “observe” an election activity under the Code is entitled to sit or stand near enough to see and hear the activity. (Sec. 33.056).

While a poll watcher may be present if an election worker is assisting a voter, a poll watcher may not be present at the voting station when a voter is preparing the voter's ballot or is being assisted by a person of the voter's choice, including by a person also serving as an interpreter at the voting station. (Sec. 33.057(b)).

A poll watcher does not have the right to free movement in other areas of an election office that is not being used for the designated activities. Because election offices often possess confidential voter information that may not be subject to inspection by poll watchers, this information must be closely guarded and election officials should clearly designate what rooms and locations are needed for specified election activities.

It is an offense if a person serving in an official capacity takes any action to obstruct the view of a poll watcher or distance the poll watcher from the activity or procedure to be observed in a manner that would make observation not reasonably effective. (Sec. 33.061). A poll watcher’s appointing authority who believes that the poll watcher was unlawfully prevented or obstructed from the performance of the watcher’s duties may seek: (1) injunctive relief under Section 273.081, including temporary relief; (2) a writ of mandamus under Section 161.009 or Section 273.061; and (3) any other remedy available under law. (Sec. 33.063).