Wisconsin is projecting one of their highest turnouts in recent memory on Tuesday and the polls show it to be yet another nail biter. Polling places will very likely be crowded, so election workers will need to be up to speed to avoid problems in getting everything put together and keeping things running smoothly. With that in mind, they clearly need to get everyone trained, right? Not so, if you happen to be in Madison.

Madison election official training sessions canceled for Sunday and Monday

The 11 election official training sessions scheduled for Sunday and Monday in the City-County Building have been canceled, city officials said…

Election officials who planned to attend a training session can instead view a webinar offered on the Government Accountability Board website.

Wow, that must be something pretty serious. Why did they have to cancel? Was it a gas leak? Bomb threat? Earthquake?

The City-County Building is the planned site for a Monday visit by President Barack Obama.

I see. Well, if the President is going to use the facility for a campaign event, I suppose that clearly takes precedence over something as trivial as training the election officials. (Insert #HeadDesk hash tag here, Twitter fans.)

But even if we can’t get all of the officials up to speed, apparently each polling place is going to be up to their eyeballs in election watchers.

MADISON — Wisconsin could see a record number of votes cast in Tuesday’s high-stakes election — and have more citizen scrutiny of the balloting than ever before.

Tea Party groups, the two presidential campaigns and several other organizations claim to have trained thousands of lawyers and ordinary citizens to spend the day at polling places looking for irregularities — and keeping an eye on each other.

Stoking interest is the state’s crucial role in the seesaw presidential and U.S Senate elections this year, on top of white-hot passions that have built during a series of Wisconsin recalls.

No matter how well intentioned, I’m simply not a fan of organized, private “election watchers” who go so far as to question people standing in line at polling places. It just reeks of potential voter intimidation to me, whether it’s being done by a Tea Party group or a gang of union members. However, keeping an eye on the process, including watching for unguarded ballots, people imposing themselves on voters while they are at the ballot station, etc. is no doubt a good idea. But either way, I’m not going to be surprised if we tune in on Tuesday and see an ample helping of chaos going on in Wisconsin yet again.