Blanche says monitors will deploy to all 50 states

The NAACP filed a federal lawsuit against Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, over the Trump administration’s plans to deploy what officials have described as a “historic number” of election monitors to polling stations during the November midterms.

The civil rights organization argued the deployment “stands to jeopardize” the elections and could “interfere with the right of voters to participate in the election free from intimidation.” The complaint seeks to force the DOJ to release records about the monitor deployment that the NAACP requested under the Freedom of Information Act on September 1 and that the department has not produced, according to the lawsuit.

“To be clear, there is no federal statute that gives the US Department of Justice [DoJ] the right to send their so-called ‘election monitors’ to polling sites across the country, and this administration has made clear its intent to disrupt and interfere with the way elections are run in our country,” said Kristen Clarke, the NAACP’s general counsel, who served in Dhillon’s role under President Joe Biden.

Dhillon has said she hopes to send 1,000 monitors to midterm polling sites. On Sunday, Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed on Fox News that election monitors will be sent to all 50 states, while seeking to downplay the role of the monitors.

“Since the 60s, the Department of Justice has monitored elections. Every single election’s been monitored,” Blanche said. “This administration, President Trump, is doing the same thing that every single administration has done in our generation, multiple generations.”

In a statement, a DOJ spokesperson said: “Department election monitors comply with all legal and ethical requirements, including the requirement that they not interfere with the voting process, and their work is consistent with longstanding department practice of monitoring elections for compliance with federal law.”

The monitor deployment has drawn criticism from within the Republican Party. In August, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon criticized the behavior of two election monitors who, he said, arrived at a polling station during the state’s primary elections earlier this year without notice and attempted to examine voting machines.

“It was aggressive, unexpected, disruptive – certainly didn’t seem to show respect for the state,” Gordon told the New York Times. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it as best we can.”

The DOJ spokesperson pushed back, saying “AAG Dhillon had a cordial meeting with Gov Gordon, the Wyoming Attorney General, and the county clerk for Laramie County. We disagree with the public framing that the two monitors we sent were ‘aggressive’ or did anything improper. The discussion with the Governor and his team was helpful and we look forward to having a presence in Wyoming in the general election.”

Clarke pointed to incidents during the primary season as the basis for the group’s concerns. “During the primary season, we saw monitors deployed with no notice to the public or jurisdiction, and no clear evidence that they were there for a legitimate civil rights purpose,” she said.

“Americans deserve to know whether the justice department is abusing its law enforcement powers to the detriment of voters and the election officials tasked with running our elections,” Clarke said. “With election day just weeks away, the NAACP is seeking judicial intervention to ensure transparency and to safeguard the fundamental right to vote.”

The NAACP said the “timely release of these documents is critical to protecting voter rights and ensuring election integrity.”