By Steve Neavling
The Justice Department announced it will deploy election monitors to 86 jurisdictions across 27 states on Tuesday, marking the most extensive federal presence in two decades.
This move comes amid rising concerns about partisan interference and voter suppression, The New York Times reports.
Some officials in Republican-led states have voiced opposition, suggesting they might block federal authorities from entering polling sites on Election Day. They argue that this federal oversight represents partisan interference by the Biden administration, though similar monitoring has been conducted by both Democratic and Republican administrations for decades to identify potential voting rights violations.
The number of locations slated for in-person federal monitoring this year reflects a 49% increase from 2020 and matches the level seen in 2004, the first presidential election after the Supreme Court’s decision in the contested 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
This year, federal monitors will be present in all seven of the most competitive swing states, with planned visits to six counties in Michigan, five in Georgia, four each in Wisconsin and Arizona, three each in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and one in Nevada.
Monitors will also be stationed in a mix of both Democratic- and Republican-led states, including California, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, and Virginia. Texas and Massachusetts have the highest number of jurisdictions on the list, with eight each.
The announcement prompted swift opposition from prominent Republicans in Florida and Missouri, two states that barred federal monitors from polling sites in the 2022 midterms.
In Florida, Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a Republican, said he intends to prevent federal authorities from entering polling places in the four Florida counties listed — Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Osceola. In a letter to the Justice Department, Byrd stated that “state law does not permit federal monitors inside voting locations.”
The presence of “federal law enforcement inside polling places would be counterproductive and could undermine confidence in the election,” he wrote, adding that his office plans to send state monitors to polling sites in those counties instead. “These monitors will ensure that there is no interference with the voting process,” Byrd wrote.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft also pushed back, noting in a statement that state law “vigorously restricts” who can enter polling sites. He implied that federal officials would not be allowed inside polls in St. Louis County, which is included on the Justice Department’s list.
