In a move to bolster transparency and address concerns about election integrity, the House Committee on Administration is launching its Election Observer Program this week. This program, which has been used in past election cycles, will train congressional staffers to become poll watchers in key districts.
The program aims to increase visibility and participation as more than a dozen House races are anticipated to be extremely close in November. Republicans are vying to maintain control of the House while Democrats seek to regain the majority.
House Committee on Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., explained that the program has been successful in the past and his staff has participated in it. He emphasized the program’s importance in enhancing election integrity and public confidence in the electoral process.
“We’re excited to really ramp the program up, roll it out, as we come into the final eight weeks before the election,” Steil told Fox News Digital.
Congressional staffers will undergo training to prepare them for their roles as poll watchers, and they will be deployed to districts other than their own if requested by a congressional candidate in a close race. The program aims to ensure fair and transparent elections in key districts.
Steil expressed frustration over the lack of transparency from the Biden administration regarding a June executive order aimed at using federal resources to enhance voter access. He highlighted concerns about noncitizen voting and the need for further action to safeguard election integrity.
“The administration continues to hide the ball on the work they’re doing as it relates to President Biden’s executive order, and I think there’s areas in particular as it relates to noncitizen voting that we should work to continue to get in place,” Steil said.
The House’s Election Observer Program is one of several initiatives Steil has spearheaded to bolster election security. However, Democrats have criticized many of these GOP-led efforts as voter suppression tactics.
Congressional Democrats are also opposing a short-term government funding bill that includes legislation requiring proof of citizenship during voter registration. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., characterized the Republican plan as “extreme.”
Despite the partisan divide on election integrity, Steil expressed hope that Democrats would utilize the program as they have in the past. He acknowledged that election integrity issues have become highly politicized.
“A lot of things that did not used to be viewed as partisan in nature, in particular as it relates to election integrity, have become an attempt by the left to try to weaponize the efforts in the other direction,” Steil said. “We’ll see how our Democratic colleagues respond to a program they participated in the past. But I am of the view that we have an opportunity to take this program and move it up to the next level, both in visibility and in participation.”
