CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — According to the League of Women Voters a poll worker is a county employee trained to work the polls and help voters.
A poll watcher is appointed by a party or candidate to observe polls but cannot interact with voters.
Nueces County Clerk Kara Sands says she's appointed a poll watcher before to be an extra trusted pair of eyes.
“When I ran the first time, I had a poll watcher for ballot board. I wasn't familiar with the ballot board. I wasn't familiar with it so that's why I had a poll watcher,” said Sands.
Sands says it is more common for a party to appoint a poll watcher than a candidate. Cierra Medina is the Executive Director of the Nueces County Republican Party. Medina says people seem excited to sign up as a poll watcher this year.
“With everything going on in the media right now and some of the stories you are seeing, even more so people are wanting to do their part and get out and make sure that the elections are honest and fair,” said Medina.
Joseph Ramirez is the Political Director for the Nueces County Democratic Party. Ramirez says plenty of people are signing up at his office to poll watch this year too, especially lawyers.
“A lot of these attorneys, and that is why they are offering CLE credit, want to ensure our elections are fair and are being run ethically and legally,” said Ramirez.
To become a poll watcher you can contact either party's headquarters to begin the application and training process.