The Justice Department announced Friday it should monitor polling sites in six counties in California and New Jersey forward of November 4 elections, as voters put together to forged their ballots in lower than two weeks.
The division mentioned the transfer, which focuses on two Democratic-led states, will “ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”
“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” Attorney General Pam Bondi mentioned in an announcement.
The apply of sending federal election screens to native jurisdictions dates again a long time, although President Donald Trump has tried to assert new authority over elections.
Friday’s transfer comes after the Republican events of California and New Jersey each despatched letters to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division requesting screens in sure counties and alleging election irregularities.
Nearly 5 years after the 2020 election, the debunked conspiracy that Trump was robbed of the election due to large voter fraud remains to be embraced by many in the Republican Party.
Justice Department officers will now be despatched to Passaic County in New Jersey and the next counties in California: Kern, Riverside, Fresno, Orange and Los Angeles.
NCS has reached out to these counties’ election departments for remark.
Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan mentioned in an announcement, “The presence of election observers is not unusual and is a standard practice across the country.”
“Federal election monitors, like all election observers, are welcome to view election activities at designated locations to confirm transparency and integrity in the election process,” Logan added. “California has very clear laws and guidelines that support observation and prohibit election interference.”
Fresno County Clerk James Kus instructed NCS the Justice Department “has not contacted” him in regards to the monitoring.
“The Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters welcomes all observers for our elections,” Kus added. “It is common for us to have local, state, federal, and sometimes international observers, watching how we administer elections that are accessible, accurate, secure, and transparent.”
Enedina Chhim, group outreach supervisor for the Orange County Registrar of Voters, instructed NCS that the division was notified by the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California that two attorneys from that workplace shall be observing elections in the county from November 4 to 7.
“Orange County elections are always transparent,” Chhim added.
Since the president’s return to workplace, the Trump administration has taken a number of steps to assert a bigger federal position in elections forward of subsequent yr’s midterms.
The Justice Department is demanding that states hand over information about their voters – together with delicate private knowledge, reminiscent of partial Social Security numbers – as they hunt for examples of fraud.
Trump has additionally sought to require voters to present proof of citizenship to vote, making an attempt an end-run round states and Congress. He recently pledged to act unilaterally to impose voter identification necessities on states and to finish most mail-in voting, which might upend a secure and dependable voting technique utilized by tens of millions of Americans.
The president additionally signed an executive order earlier this yr, searching for broad modifications in how elections are run, though the Constitution primarily vests states with that energy. Parts of the order have been blocked in courtroom.
NCS’s Marshall Cohen and Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.