Justice Department to monitor polling sites in 27 states on Election Day

The feds will dispatch monitors to polling sites in 27 states on Election Day, the US Department of Justice announced.

Nearly a third of the 86 jurisdictions where the department will keep tabs on polling sites are in the nation’s seven most closely watched swing-states.

Monitors are set to visit six counties in Michigan, five in Georgia, four each in Wisconsin and Arizona, three apiece in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and one in Nevada on Nov. 5.

Republican leaders in other states, including Texas, Missouri and Florida, said they would reject the DOJ request for access to polling sites, according to reports.

“Texas law is clear: Justice Department monitors are not permitted inside a polling place where ballots are being cast or central counting station where ballots are being counted,” Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson wrote in a letter to the DOJ.

The DOJ has for years regularly deployed its staff to monitor polling sites on election day to enforce federal laws — though in 2024 it intends to deploy to nearly double the 44 jurisdictions the department’s staff visited in 18 states in 2020.  

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is coordinating Tuesday’s efforts, with federal poll monitors including staff from the division as well as U.S. Attorney’s offices and Office of Personnel Management.