The Department of Justice is sending federal election monitors to two Massachusetts locations on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as part of what the agency called its largest monitoring operation ever.
Lowell and Boston are the two Massachusetts jurisdictions on the DOJ's published list of monitored locations. Lexington and Concord are not among them. The deployment puts approximately 1,000 monitors and observers in all 50 states for the first time in the program's history.
The effort dwarfs previous years. Newsweek reported that 289 monitors were deployed for the 2022 midterms and 714 for the 2024 presidential election.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement that she was "very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner."
Monitors will include personnel from the Civil Rights Division, other DOJ components, U.S. Attorney's Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, according to the DOJ. The department said in an Oct. 28 court filing that FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel would not serve as monitors, Newsweek reported. Personnel from the Bureau of Prisons, ATF, DEA and Customs and Border Protection could be included.
The monitors will not carry firearms or exercise law enforcement authority while serving, according to court filings cited by Newsweek.
Concerns from election officials and voting rights groups
The scale of the operation has drawn pushback. Some local election officials and voting rights groups say the expanded federal presence could intimidate voters, according to USA Today.
The NAACP sued to block the deployment, arguing in its lawsuit that the DOJ lacks authority to enforce state and county-level voting rules. The organization alleged the administration had "twisted the Poll Monitoring Program into a tool to pursue baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud," according to USA Today's reporting on the lawsuit.
Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton held an emergency hearing on Monday, Nov. 2, but denied the NAACP's request for a temporary restraining order without prejudice, Law&Crime reported. The judge ordered the DOJ to confirm by 7 a.m. on Nov. 3 that none of its monitors were law enforcement officials with arrest powers.
In its status report to the court, the DOJ said it "undertook reasonable efforts to avoid using sworn officers" and that "no additional sworn law enforcement officers were identified," according to Law&Crime.
What monitors will do
Justice Department spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said the department prioritizes monitoring jurisdictions required to provide language assistance and areas with a shortage of election observation data, USA Today reported. Pels said monitors are trained on state and local laws and authorized only to monitor, document and report on compliance with federal voting laws. They are not authorized to intervene, she said.
USA Today reported that in states with competitive Senate races, monitors were assigned to cities and counties with disproportionately high Black and Hispanic populations according to the U.S. Census.
Election authorities in at least five states have restricted or challenged the federal operation, Newsweek reported. Officials in Indiana, Kentucky, Washington County in Arkansas, and Hennepin and Ramsey counties in Minnesota said DOJ monitors cannot enter polling places without legal authorization or local permission.
Residents with questions or complaints about federal voting rights can call the DOJ's election issues hotline at 1-800-253-3931 or email [email protected].
