The Department of Justice is preparing to send federal election observers to California and New Jersey next month, targeting two Democratic states holding off-year elections following requests from state Republican parties.<\/p>\n
The DOJ announced Friday that it is planning to monitor polling sites in Passaic County, New Jersey, and five counties in southern and central California: Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside and Fresno. The goal, according to the DOJ, is \u201cto ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”<\/p>\n
\u201cTransparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,\u201d Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
Election monitoring is a routine function of the Justice Department, but the focus on California and New Jersey comes as both states are set to hold closely-watched elections with national consequences on Nov. 4. New Jersey has an\u00a0open seat for governor<\/a>\u00a0that has attracted major spending by both parties and California is holding a special election aimed at\u00a0redrawing the state’s congressional map<\/a>\u00a0to counter Republican gerrymandering efforts elsewhere ahead of the 2026 midterms.<\/p>\n The DOJ’s efforts are also the latest salvo in the GOP\u2019s preoccupation with election integrity after President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0spent years\u00a0refusing to accept the results<\/a>\u00a0of the 2020 election and falsely\u00a0railing against mail-in voting<\/a>\u00a0as rife with fraud. Democrats fear the new administration will attempt to gain an upper hand in next year\u2019s midterms with similarly unfounded allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n The announcement comes days after the Republican parties in both states wrote letters to the DOJ requesting their assistance.<\/p>\n Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, said in a statement that \u201cNo amount of election interference by the California Republican Party is going to silence the voices of California voters.”<\/p>\n California’s House districts at stake<\/p>\n The letter from the California GOP, sent Monday and obtained by the AP, asked Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, to provide monitors to observe the election in the five counties.<\/p>\n \u201cIn recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election,\u201d wrote GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin.<\/p>\n The state is set to vote Nov. 4 on a redistricting proposition that would\u00a0dramatically redraw California\u2019s congressional lines<\/a>\u00a0to add as many as five additional Democratic seats to its U.S. House delegation.<\/p>\n Each of the counties named, they alleged, has experienced recent voting issues, such as sending incorrect or duplicate ballots to voters. They also take issue with how Los Angeles and Orange counties maintain their voter rolls.<\/p>\n California is one of at least\u00a0eight states<\/a>\u00a0the Justice Department has sued as part of a wide-ranging request for\u00a0detailed voter roll information<\/a>\u00a0involving at least half the states. The department has not said why it wants the data.<\/p>\n Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page said he welcomes anyone who wants to watch the county’s election operations and said it’s common to have local, state, federal and even international observers. He described Orange County’s elections as \u201caccessible, accurate, fair, secure, and transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n Most Californians vote using mail ballots returned through the postal service, drop boxes or at local voting centers, which typically leaves polling places relatively quiet on Election Day. But in pursuit of accuracy and counting every vote, the nation\u2019s most populous state has gained a reputation for tallies that can drag on for weeks \u2014 and sometimes longer.<\/p>\n In 2024, it took until early December to declare Democrat Adam Gray the\u00a0winner<\/a>\u00a0in his Central Valley district, the final congressional race to be decided in the nation last year.<\/p>\n Trump has long had\u00a0a tortured relationship<\/a>\u00a0with heavily Democratic California, where a Republican has not carried the state in a presidential election since 1988.<\/p>\n Passaic County the target in New Jersey<\/p>\n California’s request echoed a similar\u00a0letter sent by New Jersey Republicans<\/a>\u00a0asking the DOJ to dispatch election monitors to \u201coversee the receipt and processing of vote-by-mail ballots\u201d and \u201cmonitor access to the Board of Elections around the clock” in suburban Passaic County ahead of the state\u2019s governor’s race.<\/p>\n The New Jersey Republican State Committee told Dhillon that federal intervention was necessary to ensure an accurate vote count in the\u00a0heavily Latino county<\/a>\u00a0that was\u00a0once a Democratic stronghold<\/a>, but shifted to President\u00a0Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0column in last year’s presidential race.<\/p>\n The county could be critical to GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli\u2019s hopes against Democrat Mikie Sherrill. But the letter cited previous voter fraud cases in the county and alleged a \u201clong and sordid history\u201d of vote-by-mail shenanigans.<\/p>\n In 2020, a judge\u00a0ordered a new election<\/a>\u00a0for a city council seat in Paterson \u2014 the largest city in Passaic County \u2014 after the apparent winner and others were charged with voter fraud.<\/p>\n But Michael Zhadanovsky, a spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat, said in a statement responding to the letter that it \u201cwould be highly inappropriate for the federal government to interfere in this November\u2019s state election.\u201d<\/p>\n He said New Jersey \u201cis committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections” and protecting the right of every eligible voter “to have their vote counted.\u201d<\/p>\n Election observers are nothing new<\/p>\n The DOJ has a long history of sending observers to jurisdictions across the country that have histories of voting rights violations to ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws.<\/p>\n Last year, when the Biden administration was still in power, some Republican-led states\u00a0said they would not allow federal monitors<\/a>\u00a0to access voting locations on Election Day.<\/p>\n Trump has for years railed against mail voting as part of his repeated\u00a0false claims<\/a>\u00a0that former President\u00a0Joe Biden\u2019s victory<\/a>\u00a0in 2020 was rigged. He alleges it is riddled with fraud, even though numerous studies have found no evidence of widespread fraud in U.S. elections.<\/p>\n Earlier this year,\u00a0Trump pledged<\/a>\u00a0to ban vote-by-mail across the country, something he has\u00a0no power to do<\/a>\u00a0under the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n The DOJ\u2019s effort will be overseen by Dhillon\u2019s Civil Rights Division, which will deploy personnel in coordination with U.S. attorney\u2019s offices and work closely with state and local officials, the department said<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department of Justice will do everything necessary to protect the votes of eligible American citizens, ensuring our elections are safe and secure,\u201d Dhillon said in a statement.<\/p>\n The department also is soliciting further requests for monitoring in other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n David Becker, a former DOJ attorney who has served as an election monitor and trained them, said the work is typically done by department lawyers who are prohibited from interfering at polling places.<\/p>\n But Becker, now executive director of the Center for Election Integrity & Research, said local jurisdictions normally agree to the monitors\u2019 presence.<\/p>\n If the administration tried to send monitors without a clear legal rationale to a place where local officials didn\u2019t want them, \u201cThat could result in chaos,” he warned.<\/p>\n