Justice Department to monitor voting rights across 24 states

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department will send monitors to 24 states in an effort to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws in Tuesday’s elections.

The action, which occurs regularly on Election Day, comes as civil rights groups and the federal government have raised alarm over potential voter intimidation at some polling places and ballot boxes.

The 2022 election is playing out against the backdrop of persistent falsehoods made by former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies about losing the 2020 vote, a relentless campaign that will have implications as people cast their ballots.

Democrats, on the other hand, have expressed concerns over the potential for voter suppression.

The 64 jurisdictions where federal monitors — typically lawyers with the department’s civil rights division and U.S. attorney’s offices across the United States — are going include Maricopa County, Arizona, where there have been reports of people watching ballot boxes, sometimes armed or wearing ballistic vests. The Justice Department also announced it would be sending monitors to Cole County, Missouri, where local elections officials have said they would block the monitors.

The attorneys will be in regular touch with election officials in the locations and will watch for signs of disruption to voters’ ability to cast ballots. There is also a call-in line should voters feel they are suffering discrimination at a polling place.

The monitors are being sent to “protect the rights of voters,” as they have for decades, the Justice Department said Monday.

A look at the monitors:

WHO ARE THE ELECTION MONITORS?

The monitors are lawyers who work for the U.S. government. They are not law enforcement officers or federal agents. They generally include lawyers from the Justice Department’s civil rights division and U.S. attorney’s offices across the nation. The government also sometimes brings in employees from other agencies, such as the Office of Personnel Management, who are authorized to act as monitors under a federal court order.

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WHY ARE THEY BEING SENT TO WATCH ELECTION SITES?

The Justice Department has sent attorneys to monitor election sites and compliance with federal voting laws for more than five decades. The department’s civil rights lawyers are responsible for enforcing civil action tied to the voting statutes and protecting the right to vote.

The laws they enforce include the Voting Rights…