Federal Poll Watchers: DOJ to Deploy Largest Team in History for Midterms

The U.S. Department of Justice will send roughly 1,000 employees to observe the midterm elections taking place next week.

This deployment marks the largest election monitoring effort in the department's history. The agency plans to dispatch monitors to every state, a change from previous years when observers were limited to jurisdictions with a history of discrimination.

The monitors, primarily attorneys from the Civil Rights Division, will observe polling places on Election Day. Their role is to ensure compliance with federal laws including the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act. They are tasked with documenting potential violations but are barred from engaging in political activity or intimidating voters.

Because the department needs to reach a total of 1,000 staff members, it may recruit employees outside the Civil Rights Division. In the Arizona primary earlier this year, six criminal prosecutors and one FBI employee served in this capacity.

The Campaign Legal Center has expressed concern that attorneys from other divisions may lack specific training in federal civil rights laws. The group argues this could lead to unintentional intimidation of voters or election officials.

Justice Department attorney James Catania addressed these concerns in a letter to Pennsylvania officials. "Our monitors only observe and take notes," Catania wrote. "They do not intrude or interfere in any way in the voting process. … Monitors follow all rules of the state and jurisdiction."

The full list of counties receiving monitors will be released on Election Day. Current notifications include four counties in Pennsylvania, seven cities in Michigan, and seven counties in Texas. Monitors may only enter polling places with the permission of local election officials. Otherwise, they must observe from outside.

Several states have established distance rules for these federal observers. Colorado, Indiana, and Wyoming have said they will not allow Justice Department monitors within a certain distance of polling places. Kiersten Pels, a department spokesperson, confirmed that monitors are subject to state and local laws. "DOJ trains all its monitors on the state and local laws applicable to the monitors’ assigned jurisdictions," Pels said.

State officials are monitoring the situation closely. Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt noted that federal monitors are not legally entitled to greater access than the general public. "We encourage them to coordinate with county election offices to ensure that their activities on Election Day do not disrupt the voting process in any way," Schmidt said.

While election monitoring is a long-standing practice under both parties, this year's effort has drawn scrutiny due to the administration's focus on election issues. In the Wyoming primary, state officials described the monitors as somewhat aggressive. The state attorney general also pointed out that monitors can be removed if they are not technically authorized by law.

Other groups will also observe the vote. Voting rights organizations such as Common Cause and the ACLU are sending their own monitors. Senate Democrats are sending more than 100 staffers to nine states. "Election interference is unconstitutional and illegal and Congress will be watching," California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla said.