Paul Pate: “They are there strictly as a monitor.”

And with all due respect to the president, I hope he’ll trust Iowans to run our elections.

It’s worth pointing out that this job is about being nonpartisan and wearing a referee jersey.

“You didn’t see a big ticket thing here,” Pate said. “I don’t think it was a Democrat wave or a Republican wave. This was a wave based on the candidates and their messaging. So we’ll watch and see how it unfolds over the next two years.”

They are simply observers, dressed in plain clothes, and are not permitted to interfere with the voting process in any way.