Madison — Election observers could stand a few feet from voters and poll workers, under one of a series of election bills Gov. Scott Walker signed in private Wednesday.

The law would allow observers to stand 3 to 8 feet from the table where voters announce their names and addresses and are issued voter numbers, or from the table where people register to vote. Walker's office said that the law will safeguard the fairness of elections by ensuring observers can see how they are being conducted.

In recent debate in the Senate, Democrats argued the bill could lead to longer lines at polling places and voter harassment, with Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Milwaukee) saying observers would be "breathing down the necks of poll workers." GOP lawmakers approved the measure in votes that largely broke along party lines.

Another measure signed by Walker requires that, when practical, poll workers of opposite political parties perform certain duties together.

Under existing law, clerks are to choose poll workers from lists submitted by the major political parties, putting similar numbers from each party at each polling location. The legislation signed Wednesday specifies that when two or more poll workers must perform a task, they should be of opposite parties. The measure passed the Legislature on party-line votes with Republicans backing it and Democrats in opposition.