The Justice Department put about 1,000 monitors and observers in the field on Election Day, Nov. 3, in all 50 states for the first time, the department said. It called the deployment the largest election monitoring effort in its history.
The department has sent monitors since the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, under every administration, the release says. What changed this year is the map and the headcount. A force of 1,000 spread across 50 states averages 20 people a state, a calculation from the department’s figures, so the coverage that makes the deployment historic also keeps it thin in any one place.
Who Staffed the DOJ Election Monitoring Effort
The Civil Rights Division coordinated the deployment. Monitors came from the division, from other Justice Department components and from U.S. attorney’s offices, and the department added federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management. Division staff stayed in contact with state and local election officials throughout Election Day, the release says. The department listed jurisdictions on the release page, including Maricopa in Arizona, Fulton in Georgia, Harris in Texas, Milwaukee in Wisconsin and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
What Federal Monitors Are Checking
Monitors check compliance with federal voting rights laws that fall under the division’s jurisdiction. The division’s Voting Section enforces the civil provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. Its Disability Rights Section enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act so voters with disabilities have equal access, and its Criminal Section enforces federal laws against voter intimidation and suppression based on race, color, national origin or religion.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, said, “I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history.” She also said election integrity has been a top priority for the administration and for the division.
The Election Cases the Department Announced a Day Earlier
The monitoring announcement came one day after the department said it had charged 63 people in 20 federal districts with illegal voting, false citizenship claims and fraudulent voter registration. The department announced a prosecution push on Nov. 2 and a nationwide monitoring push on Nov. 3, so its two election announcements in 24 hours covered both ends of the process: who registers and votes, and what happens at the polling place.
How to Report a Voting Problem
Voters who run into disruptions at a polling place should tell local election officials, including those based at the polling place, the department said. Anyone facing violence, threats of violence or intimidation should call 911 first and then report the incident to the department.
The department’s election hotline is 1-800-253-3931, and complaints can be filed at civilrights.justice.gov/report or by email to VEM@usdoj.gov. The ADA hotline is 1-800-514-0301, or 1-833-610-1264 for TTY users. Image: Federal government imagery from the Justice Department (public domain), or a courthouse or polling-place photo licensed from a wire service.
