Election Monitors Sent to 24 States Where Confrontation Feared

The Justice Department is dispatching workers from its Civil Rights Division and other units to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states on Election Day to ensure that they are in compliance with federal voting law and where federal law enforcement officials suspect there could be disputes or tensions around the voting process, report Perry Stein, Emma Brown and Beth Reinhard of The Washington Post.

In addition to dispatching Election Day monitors, FBI special agents serving as election crime coordinators will be on duty in the bureau’s 56 field offices, in conjunction with attorneys at the agency’s National Security Division and U.S. attorneys’ offices, to counter any potential threats. to receive voting-related complaints from the public.

The DOJ is sending monitors to states where self-styled militia groups have monitored drop boxes in the past, others where election procedures, such counting absentee ballots, have been changed, and still others where recent racial controversies have occurred that could affect proceedings and instances of harassment or intimidation have taken place.

The announcement represents an increase from the 2020 presidential election, when monitors were sent to 44 jurisdictions.