AR HB1457

State Board of Election Commissioners must develop training program for poll watchers including online materials and rules for certification by January 1, 2024.

Poll watchers must be qualified electors of Arkansas (not necessarily of the precinct they observe) and complete State Board-approved training course.

County boards must designate observation areas 3-6 feet from voter check-in and registration tables; poll watchers receive uniform and nondiscriminatory access to all election processes including certification, voting, tabulation, audits, and recounts.

Poll watchers may challenge ballots only on grounds that voter is ineligible for the precinct or has already voted at that election; challenged ballots treated as provisional ballots.

Each candidate, group, or party limited to one authorized representative at any given time at voter identification locations and one at absentee ballot processing sites; violation can result in expulsion from all polling locations in the county for election duration.