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The Justice Department said Tuesday it is deploying approximately 1,000 election monitors and observers across all 50 states for Election Day, describing the operation as its largest monitoring effort and its first to cover every state.
The department said in a November 3 announcement that its Civil Rights Division is coordinating the effort. Personnel will come from that division, other Justice Department divisions and components, U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Office of Personnel Management, which supplies federal observers, DOJ said.
DOJ said its personnel will remain in contact with state and local election officials throughout Election Day. The department said it has sent election monitors under administrations of both parties since the Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965.
“I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in the announcement.
DOJ said monitors will check compliance with federal voting-rights laws within the Civil Rights Division’s jurisdiction. The department listed the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act and Civil Rights Acts among the statutes its Voting Section enforces.
The department said its Disability Rights Section enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect equal voting access for people with disabilities. Its Criminal Section enforces laws prohibiting voter intimidation and suppression based on race, color, national origin or religion, DOJ said.
Among the jurisdictions on DOJ’s published monitoring list are New York, Westchester, Kings, Albany and Erie in New York; Middlesex, Bergen and Union in New Jersey; and Philadelphia, Allegheny, Luzerne and Lehigh in Pennsylvania. The full state-by-state list is included in the department’s announcement.
DOJ said Civil Rights Division personnel will receive questions and complaints throughout the day and week. It listed its election-issues hotline as 1-800-253-3931 and email as VEM@usdoj.gov, with an online reporting option through the division’s website.
The department directed voters to report polling-place disruptions to local election officials. Violence, threats of violence or intimidation should be reported immediately to local police by calling 911, then to DOJ after local authorities have been contacted, the department said.
Related coverage: Federal judge orders DOJ to ensure poll monitors are not law enforcement officials.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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