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The Presidential Campaign

Volunteers to monitor democracy

New York retirees James and Joyce Monroe will drive 125 miles to catch a flight to Tampa. Marlana Valdez, a soccer mom from suburban Maryland, will abandon her new business consulting firm for a spot on Florida's front lines.

And Carolyn Waldron, a medical editor from New York City, hired a cat sitter so she could spend a guilt-free weekend urging Floridians to vote.

They are poll monitors, strangers bound by a mission: They want Tuesday's eligible voters to know their rights.

Poll monitoring is a longstanding form of activism, reinvigorated by this year's close presidential election and the 2000 Florida voting debacle. This weekend, political observers expect record numbers of poll monitors to descend upon states.

They'll be stationed outside voting sites, unlike poll watchers, who represent political parties or candidates and can challenge voter qualifications inside polling places.

"Social scientists don't know what kind of effect all this mass publicity about lawyers at the polling places and poll watchers might have on a new enfranchised voter who has been afraid of voting in the past," said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida.

"On the one hand, it might make them vote early or not at all. On the other hand, it might make them feel more confident that everything will be okay and that their vote will be counted."

Election Protection, a coalition of 60 national organizations ranging from the League of Women Voters to the Native American Rights Fund, expects to place more than 20,000 volunteer monitors outside precincts in 17 states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Texas.

In Florida, the coalition expects nearly 4,000 such volunteers, a mix of professionals, students and retirees.

About 400 Tampa monitors will train Monday evening at the Hillsborough County NAACP headquarters and Mi Familia Vota, Election Protection's two local field offices. Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach and Tallahassee will also have contingents.

The group, based in Washington, D.C., targets communities of color, areas plagued by voter rights issues and cities with large numbers of new registrants who may be unfamiliar with their rights.

Volunteers attend at least two training sessions: an hourlong conference call explaining responsibilities and a two-hour lecture about state voting laws and voter rights. Instructed to provide prospective voters with nonpartisan advice, the monitors plan to don identical T-shirts and position themselves outside polling sites for at least four hours. If problems arise, they'll fill out incident reports and call local lawyers.

Carol Bledsoe, an information technology headhunter from Berkeley, Calif., said that was a small price to pay for a fair election.

"I'd rather give up a vacation and take that money and pay the flight because this is so important to me," said Bledsoe, a grandmother of six. "It's ground zero for democracy. Everybody in California thinks Florida's a joke."

Because the monitors come from out of state, some know little about lesser races and ballot initiatives, or even about the heated battle for a U.S. Senate seat.

"Mel Martinez and Castor. Is that right?" asked Valdez, a Maryland soccer mom and lawyer, relieved that she correctly guessed the candidates. "But I don't even know who's in which party."

Valdez sought volunteer opportunities in Florida after hearing a church sermon that encouraged political activity. A former member of the board of elections in Montgomery County, she figured her skills were perfect for Florida.

"I had actually examined hanging and pregnant chads and looked at certifications on absentee ballots," said Valdez, 50.

As a poll monitor, she won't have that level of involvement, but she does plan, from afar, to listen for problems with electronic voting machines.

"I'm concerned about everybody thinking it's a mess and there being a lot of litigation over the Florida vote, particularly when you have no paper trail and no ability to recount," she said.

Mr. Monroe, a retired professor at the State University of New York at Canton, initially tried to snag an assignment in Cleveland, where charges of voter intimidation are already surfacing. (Monroe bought a camera to take pictures of long lines at the polls.) But Election Protection assigned him and his wife to Florida, a change the couple welcomed because of the state's moderate climate and troubled voting history.

"I think there are a lot of new registrations this year, and people are going to be very confused," said Monroe, 72, a Republican turned Democrat who is the former mayor of Canton. "If there's a line, people may get upset."

He added: "We may go all the way down there to help five or six people. I don't expect to be changing the vote in Tampa at all, just a little piece of trying to promote democracy."

Carolyn Waldron, a native of St. Petersburg, would normally spend her spare hours visiting parks or museums in Brooklyn. But she budgeted $400 for her trip, bought a cell phone and committed to staying in her mother's St. Petersburg condo to make sure she doesn't watch another election fiasco from afar.

"I had to do something this time," she said. "Probably about a year and a half ago, I started making plans to take some time off."

Unlike many poll monitors who will head home once the polls close, Waldron, 47, plans to stay a while just in case Tuesday is a repeat of Election Day 2000.

"I want to be there to try to help and follow up," she said. "Hopefully, we won't have to do that. But since I'm making the effort, I might as well stay a few more days."

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The Presidential Campaign

Volunteers to monitor democracy

A national group is placing thousands of monitors outside polling stations in 17 states to let voters know their rights.