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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 16, 2014 10:48 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Angel Cruz |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Mandating Poll Watchers to be Certified and Trained (Former HB 959) |
| In the near future, I plan to reintroduce legislation that will mandate training for poll watchers and stipulate that they can only perform election activities in the district in which they reside. A Poll Watcher is a representative of a candidate, political party, civic organization or proposition who is legally present in the polling place to observe the conduct of an election. Under current Pennsylvania law, all Poll Watchers must be registered voters. These individuals are offered training prior to election day by the entity or individual that they represent. My legislation amends the Pennsylvania Election Code mandating training for poll watchers before performing job duties on Election Day. At the successful completion of training, a certificate would be provided to a poll watcher, which would have to be presented at the polling place before performing duties. Mandatory training will ensure poll watchers will know how to properly perform duties. In some cases, lack of knowledge can lead to disorder and disruption. In 2004, the Election Code was revised to allow individuals to be a poll watcher in any district within a county. My proposal restricts individuals to performing poll watching duties at a polling station in the district in which they permanently reside. This practice would be advantageous to all parties since the poll watcher would be more apt to know the voters. In addition, both proposals would aid in the prevention of voter fraud. Please join me in sponsoring this important legislation. |
Introduced as HB403