Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is touting plans to deploy a fleet of partisan election observers to polling stations around the country to thwart efforts to "rig" the election against him and his supporters.

“Help Me Stop Crooked Hillary From Rigging This Election!” pleads a volunteer sign-up form for poll watchers on the real estate mogul's website.

The prospect of anyone rigging the presidential election in Texas is not a serious concern, according to Texas election officials and other experts. The state’s decentralized voting system and other protections makes large-scale voter fraud virtually impossible. Proven cases of in-person voting fraud are incredibly rare in this country, several comprehensive studies show. By far the most common form of voter fraud — involving mail-in ballots — only occurs outside of the polls and away from the eyes of any potential poll watchers.

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But Trump isn't alone in recruiting poll watchers this year.

“History has repeatedly shown that Democrats will do everything they can to buy, steal, and cheat their way to victory at the ballot box," said an email sent by the Tarrant County Republican Party to supporters this month. "It is up to us to ensure that every vote here in Tarrant County is PROTECTED and LEGAL. We especially need poll watchers in Democrat-controlled polling locations.”

Meanwhile, several civil rights groups — including the Texas Civil Rights Project and Common Cause Texas — have joined in a broad campaign to prevent voter intimidation or misinformation. That campaign includes training its own team of poll monitors.

And even an official with the Russian government recently requested to visit a Texas polling place on Election Day to study "the U.S. experience in organization of voting process." Texas denied the request.

Though major recruitment efforts for poll watchers are not particularly common in Texas, poll watching itself is a longstanding practice — and it’s tightly regulated.

So, what are poll watchers in Texas allowed to do?

Poll watchers may look on as voters cast ballots or as officials count them. They can also observe inspection of voting machines. But they can't talk to voters or election officials unless they are reporting an irregularity to an election officer. They also can't make audio or video recordings or take photos inside a polling place.

The Texas Election Code includes several other rules governing poll watchers: