The Honorable Ed J. Harris, Chairman Opinion No. H- 563 

House Committee on Elections 

House of Representatives Re: Validity of poll watchers 

Austin, Texas 78767 being paid by a labor union. 

Dear Representative Harris: 

On behalf of the Elections Committee, you have requested our 

opinion concerning certain provisions of the Election Code and the 

Campaign Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1973, article 14.01, et seq., 

Election Code (Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., ch. 423, p. 1101). Your first 

question is whether a labor union may pay a poll watcher. 

. 

The appointment of poll watchers is governed by article 3.05, et 

seq., of the Election Code. Article 3.05 permits poll watchers to be 

appointed by a candidate, on behalf of a candidate by a political party, 

or on behalf of a candidate by a group of voters registered in the precinct. We are discussing your question in relation to elections for 

public office, but your attention is also directed to article 3.06 which 

involves the appointment of poll-watchers in elections at which issues 

are considered. There is no statutory authority for a labor union to 

appoint a poll watcher. 

Poll watchers serve on behalf of a candidate or issue; their function “is partisan, not nonpartisan in character. ” Priesler v. Calcaterra, 

243 S. W. 2d 62,65 (MO. 1951); 26 Am. Jur. 2d Elections $233, p. 65. 

A pollwatcher represents the interests of the candidate by or for whom 

he is appointed under article 3.05.Since a labor union as such is not 

among those authorized to appoint a poll watcher, article 3.07(h), which 

allows pollwatchers to be paid by the interest they represent, does not 

provide for payment by a labor union. 

p. 2531 
- 

The Honorable Ed J. Harris page 2 (H-563) 

Article 14.04(d) prohibits the making of campaign expenditures 

by any person other than a candidate, his campaign managers, or the 

campaign manager of a political committee, except for certain expenditures 

by individuals which do not pertain to your questions. “Expenditures” 

is defined in article 14.01(d)’ as “any payments made or debts and obligations incurred by a candidate or political committee involved in an election. ” We believe this definition includes payment of a poll watcher, 

especially in light of article 14.030, which lists such payments in its 

enumeration of permissible campaign expenditures. Consequently, 

article 14.04(d) prohibits the payment of a poll watcher by a labor union. 

Your second que,stion is whether such payments may be made from 

voluntary contributions by union members and others to a union’s political 

education fund. 

. 

As previously noted, article 14.04(d) allows expenditures such as 

the payment of poll watchers to be made only by a candidate, his campaign 

managers, or the campaign manager of a political committee. It is therefore clear that such an expenditure may not be made from a political 

education fund unless that fund is administered by a political committee. 

See, art. 14.01(n), Election Code; Attorney General Opinion H-189(1973). - 

Your third question is whether a labor union or its political 

education committee may contribute to a political campaign where such 

a contribution is to be used to pay a poll watcher, and whether such a 

contribution would make the organization a political committee. 

The labor union itself may not make such a contribution. Art. 

14.04(a). However, a voluntarily funded organization of its members 

is a “person, ” article 14.01(m), and may make campaign contributions, 

article 14.04(a), to pay a poll watcher. Such an arrangement has been 

approved under 18 U. S. C. 5 610, which deals with contributions to federal 

campaigns, Pipefitters Local Union No. 562 v. United States, 407 U. S. 

385 (1972), and is expressly authorized by the Federal Election Campaign 

Act of 1971, which amended 18 U. S. C. 9 610. In allowing contributions by 

such an organization, the Court required both “a strict segregation of its 

monies from union dues and assessments, ” and that the organization be 

p. 2532 
The Honorable Ed J. Harris page 3 (H-563) 

“financed in some sense by the voluntary donations of employees. ” 

407 U.S. at 409, 414. 

In our opinion these requirements are also essential under 

Texas law but where they are satisfied, the voluntary organization 

may make campaign contributions. 

Whether or not such a contribution would make the organization a political committee under article 14.01(n) and subject to the 

Campaign Reporting and Disclosure Act, depends upon whether one of 

the “principal and major purposes of the organization . . . is to 

collect contributions and make expenditures in political campaigns, 

involving measures as well as candidates. ” Attorney General Opinion 

H-189 (1973). 

SUMMARY 

A labor union may not pay a poll watcher from 

union dues, either directly or indirectly, through 

a campaign contribution. However, a voluntarily 

funded organization of its members could directly 

pay a poll watcher if the organization is a political 

committee, and could always make indirect payment through a campaign contribution. Such a 

contribution would not make the organization a 

political committee unless one of its major purposes is to make contributi.ons in support of 

political campaigns or measure*. 

e 

Attorney General of Texas 

irst Assistant 

C. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

lg 

p. 2533