The DOJ Planned 1,000 Observers Nationwide; Notifications Have Started
The Justice Department this week began telling counties that it wants to monitor their elections on Election Day, NPR reports. Last month Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the department's Civil Rights Division, said it planned to send 1,000 observers nationwide — the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, as she described it.
Counties in Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have received notifications so far, and the list appears to be growing in real time. Which jurisdictions, and how many, the department will actually monitor in November remains unclear.
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The procedural question could decide more than the political one: Colorado officials say they are weighing how to respond, since state rules require observers to have permission from the secretary of state unless a court orders them in. The department says it will share the specifics closer to the election, which leaves states very little room to argue about the rules.
Adams County, Colo., is on the list, and its clerk — Democrat Josh Zygielbaum — said he was not surprised, because the county sits inside the 8th Congressional District, a toss-up that could decide which party controls the House next year. Permission slips and district maps: the second one is what everyone will really be watching.