The Justice Department is deploying approximately 1,000 election monitors and observers across all 50 states for Tuesday’s midterm elections, marking the first time the department has conducted nationwide monitoring and the largest election oversight effort in its history.
The monitors include personnel from the Civil Rights Division, other DOJ components, U.S. Attorney’s Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management. They will monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws.
The DOJ identified specific jurisdictions for monitoring in every state, including six Georgia counties: Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Chatham and Bibb. Other locations include Maricopa and Pima counties in Arizona, Los Angeles and San Diego counties in California, Miami-Dade and Broward counties in Florida, Philadelphia and Allegheny counties in Pennsylvania, and several jurisdictions in Michigan, North Carolina and Texas. The DOJ has deployed election monitors under administrations of both parties since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, but this is the first time the operation has extended to all 50 states.
The nationwide monitoring announcement follows a separate Justice Department announcement Monday involving charges against 63 individuals for election-related crimes, including four illegal aliens. The cases involve allegations of noncitizens voting in federal elections, falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register or vote, and fraudulently submitting voter registration applications in another state.
