The U.S. Justice Department is announcing plans to monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in 86 jurisdictions in 27 states on Election Day.
The Department regularly deploys its staff to monitor polls, and make sure all eligible citizens' right to vote and access to their ballot is protected.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will coordinate the effort and include personnel from the Civil Rights Division, other department divisions, U.S. Attorney’s Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management.
Throughout Election Day, division personnel will maintain contact with state and local election officials as well.
The DOJ is also reminding people that complaints related to any disruptions at a polling place should always be reported to local election officials (including officials based in the polling place).
Complaints related to violence, threats of violence or intimidation at a polling place should be reported immediately to local police authorities by calling 911. These complaints should also be reported to the department after local authorities have been contacted.
Both Hennepin and Ramsey counties in Minnesota, along with the City of Minneapolis, are on the list of places the Justice Department will be monitoring. There are also several sites in hotly contested battleground states including in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Detroit and other spots in Michigan, North Carolina, Las Vegas, along with Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
The full list of counties and cities is available here.
This year’s election marks the first presidential race since former President Donald Trump began a campaign of lies about a stolen 2020 election — a narrative that has undermined public confidence in election results among a wide swath of conservative voters, despite no evidence of widespread fraud.
Election experts have warned that Trump may be laying the groundwork to once again challenge the election if he loses. The FBI has previously warned there are significant threats to election security along with threats of political violence, misinformation campaigns, and interference from foreign countries.
Just this past week, officials in Washington and Oregon launched investigations into a series of fires that were set in two ballot dropboxes destroying hundreds of ballots.