Justice Department to deploy 1,000 federal monitors for midterm elections

The Justice Department will deploy up to 1,000 federal monitors to polling locations across the United States for the 2024 midterm elections, the agency's Civil Rights Division announced. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon told Bloomberg that the monitors are intended to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in voting based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability or other protected classes.

Historically, the department has sent civil-rights attorneys to oversee voting-rights compliance in a limited number of jurisdictions; in the 2024 general election it monitored 86 jurisdictions in 27 states. To reach the larger target this cycle, a Justice Department spokesperson said the agency will solicit volunteers from among its own staff, including attorneys in U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide.

The department plans to release a full list of monitored locations after the primary elections conclude. It has already announced monitors for primary contests in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Laramie County, Wyoming.

The move comes amid ongoing legal disputes over voter-registration data. The Civil Rights Division has filed 31 lawsuits seeking unredacted voter rolls from states, arguing the requests are needed to verify that registration lists are accurate and do not include non-citizens. Several states have challenged the suits, contending they undermine confidence in the election process. To date, courts have blocked the data requests in 23 of those cases.

"The monitors are being deployed to protect the integrity of the voting process and to ensure that all voters can cast their ballots without intimidation or discrimination," Dhillon said.

The Department of Homeland Security has indicated interest in using voter information for criminal and immigration enforcement purposes. Separate inquiries, such as a public-records request by Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, seek clarification on the rationale for monitoring specific counties during the primary election.