Int’l group to monitor U.S. polling sites

The Hill reports on a development that’s grist for talk radio:

United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week. The intervention has drawn criticism from a prominent conservative-leaning group combating election fraud. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner on democratization and human rights projects, will deploy 44 observers from its human rights office around the country on Election Day to monitor an array of activities, including potential disputes at polling places. It's part of a broader observation mission that will send out an additional 80 to 90 members of parliament from nearly 30 countries.

There’s less here than meets the eye — the OSCE has been sending observers to American polling sites for a decade. And it isn’t exactly empowered to do anything.

But this year the observers will be walking into a hornet’s nest. On the left, the idea that Republicans are determined to suppress the vote by any means possible has taken hold — it’s a frequent theme in Democratic fundraising emails. And on the right, where there are already fears of an erosion of U.S. sovereignty, there will be much skepticism of a largely European mission looking for signs of GOP voter suppression.