Arek Sarkissian

arek.sarkissian@naplesnews.com; 850-559-7620

Two temporary Broward County election workers were fired Tuesday after two party representatives got into a dispute at a Pompano Beach precinct.

The two part-time workers were terminated for violating professional standards when they responded to a disagreement between two poll watchers representing the Democratic and Republican parties, said Broward County Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Tonya Edwards.

"Since I wasn't there, all I can say is that they lacked the professionalism we maintain in our standards," Edwards said. "But voting was not disrupted."

Broward County Republican Executive Committee lawyer Kevin Tynan said the Democratic poll watcher and the Republican poll watcher got into two disagreements about the place inside the polling center they could observe the polling process. County poll workers diffused the first incident, which occurred about 9 a.m. A second incident at 10:30 a.m. prompted the workers to summon the Broward County Sheriff's Office to the polling center, which was inside the Herb Skolknick Community Center.

“It had to do with where the poll watchers were standing and what they were looking at,” said Tynan, who looked into the incident on behalf of the party. “I think it could have been handled differently but the issue has been diffused.”

Edwards said she did not know the details of the disagreement between the poll watchers, but there are strict rules that govern where they can stand in a polling precinct. Political parties and candidates are allowed to assign someone to represent them at a precinct, and their supervision is part of the training given to temporary workers by county election supervisors.

"They are taught that poll watchers must give voters their privacy and there are only certain things that they can look at," Edwards said.

Edwards said the two workers were among the roughly 10,000 extra part-time employees Broward brings on to manage elections. Over the years, temporary workers have been fired for violations such as sleeping.