Critics fear the program will be used to intimidate voters, which the Justice Department denies.
WASHINGTON —
The Justice Department is expected to launch its largest-ever election monitoring effort with a presence in all fifty states, but some advocates are concerned about how the decades-old program is evolving under the Trump administration.
Where will election monitors be deployed?
Kiersten Pels, a DOJ spokesperson, said there will be around 1,000 monitors deployed to counties across the country, but a full list will not be shared until Election Day.
Election officials in some states, including North Carolina and New Mexico, hadn’t recieved specifics from the DOJ as of Monday.
Officials in other states, including Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, have recieved notices about where monitors will be sent.
- Arkansas: Pulaski and Washington counties
- Georgia: Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Chatham and Bibb counties
- Kansas: Johnson, Sedgwick, and Wyandotte counties
- Maine: Portland and Lewiston
- Massachusetts: Lowell and Boston
- New Hampshire: Manchester and Nashua
- Oklahoma: Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Muskogee counties
- Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Allegheny, Luzerne and Lehigh
- South Carolina: Charleston County
Louisiana Deputy Secretary of State Trey Williams said they were informed “indirectly” about federal monitors but have not recieved official notification from the DOJ.
What’s the purpose of the program?
Pels said monitors will “merely observe” and report any potential violations of federal law to the DOJ. She said those reports will be reviewed after Election Day.
The program has been in place for decades to track compliance with civil rights laws, according to Nicole Hansen with the Campaign Legal Center.
“It’s a program that has had a lot of success in uncovering instances of discrimination,” Hansen said.
But critics fear the focus of the program is shifting under the Trump administration, which has repeatedly threatened to prosecute election officials who don’t cooperate with election security efforts.
Some concerns were reported during primary elections. Wyoming’s Republican Gov. Mark Gordon described the monitors’ behavior as “a bit aggressive” and “irregular.” One county official said monitors asked to examine tabulators and inquired about the acquisition of new election equipment.
“It seems, this year, the Department of Justice election monitors are being used to hunt for fraud as opposed to protecting voters,” said Carmen Daugherty, executive director of the Advancement Project.
Advancement Project and the NAACP filed a lawsuit earlier this month that aims to block the DOJ from deploying federal prosecutors and other federal law enforcement as part of the program.
“Our fear is that, if we see the deployment of prosecutors and federal law enforcement agents, that will have such a chilling effect, especially in Black and Brown communities, that folks will be afraid to come out and vote on Election Day,” Daugherty said. “We have no issue with DOJ being neutral monitors.”
The DOJ said the lawsuit is based on “unwarranted fear and baseless speculation” and rejected the notion that its election monitoring will intimidate voters.
“The NAACP’s self-serving fear-mongering is likely doing far more to deter lawful voting than our monitoring efforts,” Pels said in a statement.
What can’t election monitors do?
Hansen said that monitors are not supposed to question voters about their citizenship, interfere with election administration, or engage in political activity while they’re on duty.
“So voters might have these very real fears, but they should also rest assured that there are critical federal laws to protect them from intimidation,” Hansen said.
Amy Cohen with the National Association of State Election Directors said each state has different laws around who is permitted to be in a voting location and what they are authorized to do while they are in the voting location. She said voters who have concerns on Election Day should speak with a poll worker or reach out to their local election office.
Voters can also contact the nonpartisan Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-867-8683).
