After research, I emailed the local Republicons about being a poll watcher, because it's through the political parties, at least here. I am willing to take a Tuesday off to do it. No response, although I did get a nifty post card from some random right wing org in the mail about it with a code to scan or something. It seems they aren't real eager to have folks do it, or are disorganized and lazy. Maybe it's because I'm an independent. We can't control Bill.
None of this is suspicious at all.