- Mike Rogers urged the use of retired or off-duty police officers as poll watchers in Detroit, prompting Democrats to warn of voter intimidation
- Michigan law allows poll watchers to observe elections but prohibits them from interfering, touching voting materials or interacting with voters
- Rogers says poll watchers won’t discourage voting. Whether his comments allude to voter intimidation is disputed along partisan lines
In the run-up to the Nov. 3 general election, Democrats are using comments by US Senate candidate Mike Rogers to warn that Republicans may try to intimidate voters and suppress turnout in Michigan.
Rogers was recorded this year telling members of the Kalamazoo County GOP that Republicans should use retired or off-duty police officers as poll watchers in Detroit. He said the off-duty officers couldn’t wear uniforms at the polls, but “all you gotta do is open your jacket and you see the badge on the belt, right?”
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Federal law generally prohibits US officials from sending “armed men” to polling places, but poll watchers are fully legal and a fixture of Michigan elections.
However, they aren’t allowed to intervene, touch any voting materials or interact with voters. And voter intimidation by poll watchers is prohibited under state and federal law.
Claims about voter suppression are among many that Bridge Michigan is fact checking ahead of the Nov. 3 election, including one on the claim that El-Sayed wants to ban gas-powered cars. The winner will succeed retiring Democrat Gary Peters.
The claims
In his comments to the Kalamazoo County GOP, Rogers said: “Let’s put retired or off-duty police officers as our poll watchers in Detroit. Because go ahead, try to intimidate them.”
Off-duty police couldn’t wear uniforms, he added, but “all you gotta do is open your jacket and you see the badge on the belt, right?”
Rogers’ comments were first reported in May by The Detroit News, which wrote that his plan would “revive a strategy historically used to scare or intimidate voters of color.”
A 1981 Republican effort to put off-duty police officers at New Jersey polling places in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods resulted in a consent decree that restricted such “ballot security” programs. That order expired in 2018.
Democrats have resurfaced Rogers’ comments in recent weeks, and Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed addressed them during an Oct. 21 debate. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard it because that sounds like something you’d be hearing from someone in the South like 60 years ago,” El-Sayed said, adding the effort could “intimidate voters in the city of Detroit.”
From the available audio clip, it isn’t entirely clear who Rogers suggested off-duty police could show their badges to, or how their presence could potentially improve election security. But he specifically referenced Detroit, the state’s largest city, which is majority-Black and a traditional Democratic stronghold.
Asked about his comments, Rogers recently told ABC News that he doesn’t “know how having a poll watcher, which we’ve had for decades in the state, would discourage anyone from voting.”
A campaign spokesperson accused El-Sayed of twisting Rogers’ words “to push a false narrative” and said Rogers is encouraging “people of integrity to serve in the important role of a poll watcher.”
“That may include retired law enforcement — it may also include teachers, construction workers, plumbers, and community leaders,” said the spokesperson, Alyssa Brouillet. “Michiganders should have elections they can count on.”
El-Sayed’s campaign suggested Rogers has proposed sending off-duty police officers to polling places before, citing comments in a 2000 Wall Street Journal column that Rogers denied making when he was first running for Congress in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District.
What are poll watchers allowed to do?
Poll watchers are not the same as poll challengers, who are permitted to challenge a voter’s eligibility under certain conditions.
The role of poll watchers in Michigan is quite narrow. A member of the public is permitted to observe the election process, and they don’t need to be registered to vote in the state.
In July, the Michigan Bureau of Elections published updated guidelines and rules for both poll watchers and poll challengers.
Clerks are required to designate a “public viewing area” in polling places, early voting sites and absent voter processing facilities. From the viewing area, poll watchers are permitted to observe the voting process, but they aren’t allowed to intervene or interact with voters.
Poll watchers aren’t allowed to touch any of the election materials or handle any election equipment.
If a poll watcher attempts to interfere or delay election staff from carrying out their jobs, the poll watcher will be removed from the polling place, per Secretary of State guidelines. Poll watchers are also prohibited from taking photographs or recording audio or video.
Federal law prohibits ordering troops or armed forces to a polling place in most circumstances. More broadly, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1957 prohibits voter intimidation and voter coercion.
While poll watchers are only allowed to observe, poll challengers are allowed to question a voter’s eligibility. They can do so if they believe a person isn’t registered to vote, is under 18, isn’t a US citizen, or hasn’t lived in the city or township for more than 30 days prior to the election.
Poll challengers must be registered to vote in Michigan and complete training offered by a political party on the ballot or another qualified organization.
Secretary of State guidelines read: “The challenger must make the challenge in a discrete manner not intended to embarrass the challenged voter, intimidate other voters, or otherwise disrupt the election process.”
Bottom line
Rogers’ words aren’t in dispute — it’s whether his comments amounted to a call to intimidate voters, and that conclusion is wholly split along partisan lines.
While poll watchers are legally allowed to observe the voting process in Michigan, they aren’t allowed to intervene.
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.