DOJ Election Monitors Barred From Polling Places as Deployment Rolls Out
Summary
The Justice Department plans to deploy about 1,000 election monitors across all 50 states for the November 3 midterm elections. Officials in Indiana, Kentucky and Washington County, Arkansas, say the monitors cannot enter polling places, citing state law and voter protections; the department says monitors will observe and report possible federal-law violations without interfering with voting.Key Facts
- The planned deployment of about 1,000 monitors would be larger than the 289 sent for the 2022 midterms and the 714 sent for the 2024 presidential election.
- Indiana officials say federal monitors cannot enter voting locations unless state law permits it.
- Local officials expect up to 12 monitors each in Indiana’s Marion and Lake counties.
- Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell said monitors would stay at least 50 feet from polling-place entrances and could interview voters voluntarily after they leave.
- Officials in Kentucky and Washington County, Arkansas, have also said monitors must remain outside polling locations.
- The Justice Department has not given Newsweek a full list of deployment locations and said it would release the list on Election Day.
- The department said monitors would include staff from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, ATF, DEA and CBP, and would perform routine Civil Rights Division monitoring duties.
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