The Department of Justice announced the largest voting-monitoring effort in its history, made up of around 1,000 monitors and observers deployed across all 50 states for the first time.
For reference, former President Joe Biden’s DOJ sent fewer than 400 monitors to 24 states in the last midterm elections in 2022. This year’s effort will be spread across 126 counties, with larger shares in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Texas, and New York. The concentrated effort reflects President Donald Trump’s focus on alleged election fraud since 2020, concerns which critics have denounced as unfounded.
2026 MIDTERM ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS, RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
“Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ said in a statement. “I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner.”
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has deployed election monitors since the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, but deployments are typically limited and based on need. Federal election monitors watch for compliance with federal voting laws and have more power than typical volunteer observers sent by parties, but are still only monitors.
Along with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, personnel from other parts of the DOJ, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management will also take part.
The effort hasn’t been without its critics. In August, Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and Mark Warner (D-VA), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, led Senate Democrats in writing a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, expressing their concerns over the deployment of election monitors in the midterm elections.
“As demonstrated under both Democratic and Republican administrations, U.S. elections are safe, secure, and fair,” they wrote. “The Department’s election monitors program must not be used to undermine that fact. Election monitors must carry out their responsibilities in a manner that respects and upholds voters’ rights, complies with the applicable legal requirements, and does not interfere with state and local election officials’ administration of the voting process.”
The DOJ has charged dozens of people with election-related crimes, announcing charges against 63 people on Monday. The charges involve illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration, and false claims of U.S. citizenship. Four of those charged were illegal immigrants.
DOJ CHARGES 63 PEOPLE WITH VOTING-RELATED CRIMES DAY BEFORE MIDTERM ELECTIONS
“These foreign nationals allegedly took advantage of the trust of the American people and flouted the laws that govern our nation’s elections,” Blanche said in a statement. “This Department of Justice will continue investigating and prosecuting voter fraud to restore confidence in our electoral system.”
Since entering office for his second term, Trump’s DOJ has charged 239 people with election fraud-related crimes, according to the department.