COVID Risks Thin Ranks of 2020 US Election Observers

An international group of election observers will send fewer experts to the United States ahead of Nov. 3 because of COVID-19 risks, CBS News reported.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a group of 57 nations including the United States, has sent observers for every U.S. presidential election since 2002. 

The main election observation arm of the group had recommended 500 observers be assigned for the 2020 vote, but because of COVID-19 risks, only 30 have been sent, CBS News reported.

"It was inevitable that we would have to change our plans. And the U.S. isn't the first country we've had to do that in this year, unfortunately," Katya Andrusz, spokesperson for OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights told CBS News.

For election day in 2016, the organization had 295 observers in the United States.

"The reason we go to observe and the reason we're asked to observe is because elections are such an important element of a democracy, and in a way they are like a kind of a screenshot of how well a democracy is functioning," Andrusz told CBS News.

As part of its work, ODIHR sends observers to participating countries to gauge the level of equality, political pluralism, confidence, transparency and accountability in elections. ODIHR then publishes its observations and recommendations for improvements, CBS News noted.

Even with fewer observers, ODIHR said it would pay specific attention to "voter rights, registration and identification, security of election technologies, legal framework for and implementation of alternative voting methods, campaign finance, and the conduct of the electoral campaign, particularly online and in the media" ahead of Nov. 3, CBS News reported.

"We're politically neutral. We're not concerned about who ends up winning, but about how they win, about the process itself," Andrusz told CBS News. "For the democratic election process to function, there needs to be a high level of public trust that the system works — that people have a voice and that their voice counts."

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