What do the laws say?
Federal monitors must comply with local, state and federal election laws. Pennsylvania law does not permit federal election monitors inside polling locations, unlike poll watchers who are deployed by political parties and civil society organizations.
“DOJ monitors are not legally entitled to any greater access to polling places than any member of the public,” Schmidt said.
Federal monitors, like anyone else, are also prohibited from trying to intimidate, threaten or coerce voters, and cannot attempt to physically block voters. They are also not allowed to question voters about voters’ citizenship, criminal record or other qualifications to vote or demand documentation.
The DOJ letter said the monitors will not “intrude or interfere in any way in the voting process.”
However, the Campaign Legal Center expressed concern over the DOJ’s recruitment of monitors.
“In an effort to reach 1,000 monitors nationwide, DOJ has expanded its recruitment beyond the typical pool of government attorneys in DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and others with voting rights and civil rights experience,” the voting rights organization said in a fact sheet for Pennsylvania officials and residents. “Attorneys from outside the department’s Civil Rights Division may lack knowledge and training on how to engage in election monitoring, raising the possibility that these monitors will run afoul of state laws or the monitoring program’s standard operating procedures.”
Schmidt said that voters who believe their rights may have been violated during Election Day can call the Department of State’s year-round voter hotline at 1-877-868-3772.