Multiple Counties Plan To Keep DOJ Election Monitors Outside of Polling Places on Tuesday

Several heavily Democratic counties will force U.S. Justice Department election monitors to wait outside of the voting facilities on Tuesday as the DOJ prepares to launch the “largest” monitoring operation in American history, according to the Civil Rights Division. One county prosecutor is warning residents that they do not have to participate in interviews with any plainclothes officials waiting outside of those voting centers. Democrats have been wargaming scenarios in which President Trump could try to impact the midterm elections at the federal level, including meetings with a former U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, and sessions led by the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, Congressman Joe Morelle. Mr. Trump and his administration are already looking into playing a role in this year’s U.S. Senate race in Alaska, where a spoiler candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan is on the ballot running against the Republican incumbent, Senator Daniel S. Sullivan. In September, the assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, Harmeet Dhillon, announced that around 1,000 poll monitors would be deployed to the polls on Tuesday, calling it the “largest” operation of its kind. During the last midterms in 2022, fewer than 300 federal monitors were sent to the polling stations. More than 100 monitors were watching the polls during this year’s primary elections. “I’m really excited to say that we’re pretty close to that number [1,000] of people who have raised their hands — lawyers in the Department of Justice and other staff, trained legal staff — who are ready to go into the field,” Ms. Dhillon said during an interview with Real America’s Voice in September. She insisted that those who deploy to the polls will simply be monitoring the day’s events and aiding with things like language accessibility and disability accessibility.“If there are problems, we do take care of it afterwards,” Ms. Dhillon said. “This is going to be the biggest DOJ election observer effort in history.”Many deep-blue areas are not interested in having those monitors indoors, and are requiring that federal officials stay outside of the buildings where votes are cast. On Monday, the Hennepin County attorney’s office — the top prosecutor for Minneapolis, Minnesota, and some of the surrounding suburbs — said officials would be forced to stay at least 100 feet away from voting centers. “Our office is committed to ensuring free, safe, and fair elections,” the Hennepin County Attorney, Mary Moriarty, said in a statement Monday. “Any reports of potentially unlawful behavior directed at voters or election workers will be reviewed and, if appropriate, prosecuted.” Ms. Moriarty’s office stated that the federal officials are expected to be “in plainclothes and may attempt to interview voters as they leave the polling place.” “Participation in these interviews is entirely voluntary,” her office said. The DOJ is planning on sending those monitors to all 50 states, with many of them being deployed to the more populous, more Democratic areas of those states. In Arkansas, officials in Pulaski County, which includes Little Rock, and Washington County, which includes Fayetteville, have voted to keep DOJ monitors out of their polling sites. Kentucky’s two most populous counties — Jefferson County and Fayette County — will also not have DOJ monitors inside of voting centers. According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, around two dozen monitors will be sent to Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, and Lake County, which includes Gary. Both counties will see 12 monitors each, according to the Chronicle. Both of those counties are the most populated centers of Indiana’s two congressional districts currently represented by Democrats in the House. The Marion County clerk, Kate Sweeney Bell, said the DOJ monitors will be required to stay at least 50 feet from the polling sites. “Outside of every vote center or early vote center, there is a placard that is affixed either to the wall, to a window, to a stake outside that says ‘No campaigning beyond this point,’” Ms. Bell said. “Well, same with federal election monitors. You can’t do anything past this point.”

Multiple Counties Plan To Keep DOJ Election Monitors Outside of Polling Places on Tuesday

Multiple Counties Plan To Keep DOJ Election Monitors Outside of Polling Places on Tuesday

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