DOJ Election Monitors: More Than 1,000 Federal Monitors Head to the Polls for Tuesday's Midterm Elections
The Justice Department has dramatically stepped up its election monitor program for Tuesday, and voting-rights groups have sued over the use of law-enforcement agents — a fight set for a court hearing Monday afternoon.
The Department of Justice has dramatically stepped up its election monitor program this year, sending more than 1,000 monitors out to the 50 states for Tuesday's midterm elections, according to the USA Today election live file read by the desk this cycle. The department has a long history of monitoring elections, typically to ensure people can vote; in the past it often dispatched civil-rights experts to ensure all legal voters could exercise their right, sometimes in communities with a history of racial discrimination.
The scale and the selection are drawing objections. A few county officials told USA Today they were not given much information about why their jurisdiction was picked for a monitor, and several noted they are in liberal-leaning areas with large Hispanic populations. Some voting-rights groups, including the NAACP, say they believe the administration's decision to deploy monitors could suppress turnout and disenfranchise voters, particularly from minority groups; the NAACP has sued to block the Justice Department from using law-enforcement agents to monitor polls, with a hearing scheduled for Monday afternoon.
The department's position, carried in the same file, is narrower than the critics' account. A Justice Department spokeswoman said all the observers will be department personnel trained on state and local laws, there to monitor, document and report on compliance with federal voting laws — and not authorized to intervene to address compliance with federal law, such as whether someone is a U.S. citizen. What Tuesday's voters actually meet at the polls will be decided in part by Monday afternoon's hearing.
