Fall destinations remain undecided; language, access and fraud are possible factors
The Justice Department plans to send about 1,000 poll monitors to elections this fall. The plan includes primary races in Florida and Wyoming on Tuesday, Dhillon said in a press release.
Dhillon, an assistant attorney general who leads the Civil Rights Division, told Bloomberg News that the number of poll monitors is “probably going to be a historic number for a Republican administration.”
In the press release, Dhillon described election monitoring as a continuing priority. “Election monitoring is an ongoing priority for this office,” she said. She added, “Nondiscriminatory monitoring ensures all elections remain free, fair and accessible to all.”
On Tuesday, four attorneys for the Civil Rights Division went to Miami-Dade County, Florida, while two went to Laramie County, Wyoming, Dhillon said.
The department has sent more than 75 monitors to five states and more than 200 polling locations this year, according to the press release.
In the Michigan primary on Aug. 4, the department sent monitors to Detroit, Hamtramck, Lansing and East Lansing, cities that are heavily Democratic, according to UPI.
Some people were concerned that the monitors would interfere with voting. Michigan officials said they were professional and did not cause issues, The Washington Post reported.
The department also sent monitors to Democratic areas during the Arizona and Minnesota primaries.
Dhillon said the department had not decided where the monitors would be sent in the fall. Possible destinations include “the places where there may be language issues, the places where there may have been access of disability rights issues, places where there may be voter fraud issues.”
The department’s announcement therefore combines a projected deployment of about 1,000 monitors with an unresolved process for selecting fall sites.