Justice Department Begins Notifying Counties It Wants to Monitor on Election Day

The Department of Justice this week began notifying the counties it wants to monitor on Election Day, NPR has learned. Counties in Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have received notifications from the Justice Department so far, but the list seems to be growing in real time.

The department has long deployed monitors to ensure compliance with voting laws, but the Trump administration's unprecedented steps to try to wrestle control over elections from local and state governments have led to new concerns about DOJ monitoring this year. And already this week, at least one county official is raising questions about why his locality is on the DOJ's list.

Last month, Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said the department planned to send 1,000 observers nationwide, in what she termed the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history.

And even as counties are being notified, it is unclear which jurisdictions or how many the department plans to monitor this November. A DOJ spokesperson, Kiersten Pels, told NPR those details will be shared closer to the election.

The Justice Department routinely observes elections. The department under President Biden monitored 64 jurisdictions in 24 states on Election Day in the last midterm year, 2022. But to many local officials and experts, this year is different.

President Trump continues to falsely maintain that he won the 2020 election and that election fraud is more widespread than it has ever been proven to be. Experts worry federal law enforcement could potentially use those false claims, or others generated this year, as a pretext to try to seize ballots during the counting period, or interfere in the process in some other way.

Most states reported no incidents with Justice Department monitors during primary elections earlier this year, but in Wyoming, the state's Republican governor expressed concern about aggressive and irregular behaviour by monitors for the state's August primary. And the Republican county clerk of Laramie County told NBC News that the conduct of the monitors showed complete disregard for state laws and administration of elections. The Department of Justice disputes that characterisation.

Pels said the department disagrees with the public framing that the two monitors sent were aggressive or did anything improper, adding that Dhillon had a meeting with the Wyoming officials after the fact. In previous election cycles, state officials in the states where monitors were assigned were notified at the same time as the counties. This year, that did not happen initially, according to officials in three states who spoke to NPR anonymously. So states have been scrambling since notifications began going out on Tuesday to figure out where the DOJ plans to be. After NPR asked the DOJ why states had not been notified, multiple state officials told NPR they then received notification from the department.

One of the counties that received a notification is Adams County, Colorado. The clerk there, Democrat Josh Zygielbaum, told NPR he was not shocked the DOJ selected his county to observe, as Adams County includes part of the state's 8th Congressional District, a toss-up district that could determine party control of the House of Representatives next year. Zygielbaum was surprised, however, that the DOJ reached out only to him, and not to the Republican clerk in neighbouring Weld County, which also houses a sizable portion of that same congressional district.

Zygielbaum said his initial thought is that it is politically motivated, and that this is potentially an intimidation technique. Although he likes to assume the best in people, he said the administration has really shown its disdain for elections, particularly in states and counties where mail ballots exist. Pels, of the DOJ, said the department prioritises places with competitive elections, and would monitor Adams County because it is covered by Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires voters be given access to election materials in the language they speak. Weld County is not covered under that provision. That explanation did not fully comfort Zygielbaum.

NPR has confirmed the DOJ has also sent monitor notifications to seven counties in Texas, King County, Washington, Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Hennepin and Ramsey counties in Minnesota. The DOJ requested to send monitors to the same Minnesota counties during the state's primary in August, but monitors were denied close access to polling locations. In 2024, Texas similarly blocked the Biden-era DOJ from election monitoring.

Colorado state officials say they are considering how to respond to the DOJ's request, considering Colorado election rules say observers need to have permission from the secretary of state's office, unless they are ordered to observe by a court. Zygielbaum says his election processes will not change either way. He has, however, already requested a staffer from the state come to Adams County on Election Day just to keep an eye on the federal monitors if they do come.