US Justice Department to send election observers to California, New Jersey

The United States Department of Justice is preparing to nonstop national predetermination observers to California and New Jersey adjacent month, targeting 2 Democratic strongholds holding off-year elections pursuing requests from authorities Republican parties.

The Justice Department announced Friday that it is readying to show polling sites successful Passaic County, New Jersey, and 5 counties successful confederate and cardinal California: Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside and Fresno.

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The goal, according to the department, is “to guarantee transparency, ballot security, and compliance with national law”.

“Transparency astatine the polls translates into religion successful the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of predetermination integrity,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said successful a connection to The Associated Press.

Election monitoring is simply a regular relation of the Justice Department, but the absorption connected California and New Jersey comes arsenic some states are acceptable to clasp intimately watched elections with nationalist consequences connected November 4.

New Jersey has an unfastened spot for politician that has attracted large spending by some parties, and California is holding a peculiar predetermination aimed astatine redrawing the state’s legislature representation to antagonistic Republican gerrymandering efforts elsewhere successful the run-up to the 2026 midterms.

The Justice Department’s efforts are besides the latest salvo successful the Republican Party’s preoccupation with predetermination integrity, aft President Donald Trump spent years refusing to judge the results of the 2020 election.

Democrats fearfulness the caller medication volition effort to summation an precocious manus successful adjacent year’s midterms with likewise unfounded allegations of fraud.

The announcement comes days aft the Republican leaders successful some states wrote letters to the Justice Department requesting their assistance. Some starring Democrats successful the states blasted the decision.

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin called the determination “highly inappropriate” and said the Justice Department “has not adjacent attempted to place a morganatic ground for its actions”.

In a statement, Rusty Hicks, seat of the California Democratic Party, said, “No magnitude of predetermination interference by the California Republican Party is going to soundlessness the voices of California voters.”

California’s House districts astatine stake

The missive from the California Republican Party, sent connected Monday and obtained by The Associated Press, asked the Justice Department’s civilian rights head, Harmeet Dhillon, to supply monitors to observe the predetermination successful the 5 counties.

“In caller elections, we person received reports of irregularities successful these counties that we fearfulness volition undermine either the willingness of voters to enactment successful the predetermination oregon their assurance successful the announced results of the election,” wrote GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin.

The authorities is acceptable to ballot connected a redistricting proposition that would dramatically redraw California’s legislature lines to adhd arsenic galore arsenic 5 further Democratic seats to its US House delegation.

Each of the counties named, authorities Republican leaders alleged, has experienced caller voting issues, specified arsenic sending incorrect oregon duplicate ballots to voters. They besides instrumentality contented with however Los Angeles and Orange counties support their elector rolls.

California is 1 of astatine slightest 8 states the Justice Department has sued arsenic portion of a wide-ranging petition for elaborate elector rotation information. The section has not said wherefore it wants the data.

Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for Governor Gavin Newsom, said the Justice Department has nary lasting to “interfere” with California’s election.

He pointed retired that November’s ballot contains lone a state-specific inaugural and has nary national races.

“Deploying these national forces appears to beryllium an intimidation maneuver meant for 1 thing: suppress the vote,” Richards said successful an email.

Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page said helium welcomes anyone who wants to ticker the county’s predetermination operations and said it is communal to person local, state, national and adjacent planetary observers. He described Orange County’s elections arsenic “accessible, accurate, fair, secure, and transparent”.

Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan said predetermination observers are modular signifier crossed the state and that the county, with 5.8 cardinal registered voters, is continuously updating and verifying its elector records.

“Voters tin person assurance their ballot is handled securely and counted accurately,” helium said.

Most Californians ballot utilizing message ballots returned done the postal service, driblet boxes oregon astatine section voting centres, which typically leaves polling places comparatively quiescent connected Election Day.

But successful pursuit of accuracy and counting each vote, the nation’s astir populous authorities has gained a estimation for tallies that tin resistance connected for weeks — and sometimes longer.

In 2024, it took until aboriginal December to state Democrat Adam Gray the victor successful his Central Valley district, the last legislature contention to beryllium decided successful the federation past year.

Passaic County the people successful New Jersey

California’s petition echoed a akin missive sent by New Jersey Republicans.

They asked the Department of Justice to dispatch predetermination monitors to “oversee the receipt and processing of vote-by-mail ballots” and “monitor entree to the Board of Elections astir the clock” successful suburban Passaic County successful beforehand of the state’s governor’s race.

The New Jersey Republican State Committee told Dhillon that national involution was indispensable to guarantee an close ballot number successful the heavy Latino region that was erstwhile a Democratic stronghold but shifted to President Donald Trump’s file successful past year’s statesmanlike race.

The region could beryllium captious to Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli’s hopes against Democrat Mikie Sherrill. But the missive cited erstwhile elector fraud cases successful the region and alleged a “long and sordid history” of vote-by-mail shenanigans.

In 2020, a justice ordered a caller predetermination for a metropolis assembly spot successful Paterson — the largest metropolis successful Passaic County — aft the evident victor and others were charged with elector fraud.

Platkin said the authorities is committed to ensuring its elections are just and secure. With the Justice Department’s announcement, helium said the lawyer general’s bureau is “considering each of our options to forestall immoderate effort to intimidate voters oregon interfere with our elections”.

Election observers are thing new

Local predetermination offices and polling places astir the state already person observers from some governmental parties to guarantee rules are followed.

The Justice Department besides has a agelong past of sending observers to jurisdictions that person histories of voting rights violations to guarantee compliance with national civilian rights laws.

Last year, erstwhile the medication of President Joe Biden was inactive successful power, immoderate Republican-led states said they would not let national monitors to entree voting locations connected Election Day.

Trump has railed for years against message voting arsenic portion of his repeated mendacious claims that Biden’s triumph successful 2020 was rigged. He alleges it is riddled with fraud, adjacent though galore studies person recovered nary grounds of wide fraud successful US elections.

Earlier this year, Trump pledged to prohibition vote-by-mail crossed the country, thing helium has nary powerfulness to bash nether the US Constitution.

The Justice Department said its effort volition beryllium overseen by Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division, which volition deploy unit successful coordination with US Attorney’s Offices and enactment intimately with authorities and section officials.

The section is besides soliciting further requests for monitoring successful different jurisdictions.

David Becker, a erstwhile Justice Department lawyer who has served arsenic an predetermination show and trained them, said the enactment is typically done by section lawyers who are prohibited from interfering astatine polling places.

But Becker, present enforcement manager of the Center for Election Integrity & Research, said section jurisdictions usually hold to the monitors’ presence.

If the medication tried to nonstop monitors without a wide ineligible rationale to a spot wherever section officials did not privation them, “that could effect successful chaos,” helium said.