With more observers expected this year, poll workers say they're prepared

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) --With early voting in full swing in Wisconsin, poll workers say they expect more observers, but they are prepared.

"They're meant to observe, they're allowed to take notes. They're not allowed to record, they're not allowed to take media of the voting process," Chief Poll Inspector at Mitchell Street Library Shannon Romero said. "What we've seen from observers from both parties is that they're just committed to making sure the voters also have access to voting. Our duty is just to provide them with the space to be able to do that while maintaining the privacy of the voter."

For Loretta Jackson, a poll worker at the Zeidler Municipal Building, having poll observers present does not change how they handle elections.

"[Poll workers] follow all of the rules and regulations, we don't try to get by, we make sure that we're doing everything that we're supposed to do," she said. "They don't make us nervous because we know we're doing the right thing."

However, they are prepared if a disruption does occur at a polling place.

"I do think that we're prepared to de-escalate if an observer goes beyond the rules they're abided by. There is some training about how to make sure that our polling place remains safe, remains accessible to the voter, that they're not interfering with what's happening and that they're not being invasive with the privacy or the communication that we're experiencing with voters," Romero said.

Romero said election workers are trained every two years and once before every general election.

For more information on how to vote early, visit myvote.wi.gov.