The US Justice Department has sent federal election observers to 126 counties and cities across all 50 states. The department says the observers will monitor compliance with federal election laws, while an analysis of the locations found that some are Democratic-leaning areas and important centers in contests that could determine control of Congress.
The selected locations include major cities such as Dallas, Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland, as well as counties including Johnson County, Kansas, and Harris County, Texas. The department said it prioritizes jurisdictions that must provide language assistance, areas with limited election-observation data, and places covered by court agreements related to previous election issues.
Approximately 1,000 observers will be assigned to polling places. They are Justice Department lawyers, not law enforcement officers, and are instructed not to interfere with voting. Their remit includes identifying possible violations such as racial discrimination, voter intimidation and failures to provide legally required language assistance.
Some Democrats and voting-rights activists have raised concerns that observers could be used to undermine confidence in elections or collect material for unfounded lawsuits intended to challenge results.
The nationwide deployment is substantially larger in scope than earlier efforts, though the locations selected can change between election cycles and administrations. Republican administrations have generally sent more observers to Democratic areas, while Democratic administrations have tended to do the reverse. The department deployed more than 100 observers during this year’s primaries. In the 2022 midterm elections, under President Joe Biden, it sent fewer than 400 observers to 24 states.
Sources: CNN Brasil.