DES MOINES (AP) — A group of international voting monitors whose members were threatened with arrest in Texas if they try to watch elections there asked permission on Monday to monitor a polling location in Iowa next week.

Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald met Monday with officials from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is sending observers from its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to several U.S. states including Iowa. The monitors would be from such countries as Albania, Russia and Turkey, and the group says they would primarily serve an educational role.

“Their observation involves meetings with officials, political parties and candidates, as well as representatives from civil society and the media, both in the state capital and around the state,” group spokeswoman Giovanna Maiola said in an email.