WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) – The US Justice Department said on Tuesday it was deploying 1,000 election monitors and observers to all 50 states in what it called the largest Election Day monitoring effort in history.
• A Justice Department statement identified which jurisdictions within the states would receive monitors and observers.
• Department officials have said priorities include areas with a history of voter access issues and places with competitive races that could be targets of voter intimidation.
• The Trump administration has taken an increasingly aggressive approach to election oversight, pressing states for voter-registration data and arguing that stricter measures are needed to ensure public confidence in the vote. Critics view the moves as federal overreach.
• The expanded federal monitoring program led several states to issue new guidelines to local election officials and poll workers about the limited authority DOJ observers will have on Election Day.
• “Election monitors will be checking for compliance with the federal voting rights statutes that fall within the jurisdiction of the (Civil Rights Division),” the Justice Department statement said.
• Some state and local laws allow election officials to prevent DOJ monitors from being present inside polling locations. DOJ staff cannot conduct investigations on the spot or otherwise stop anyone from voting.
• The number of monitors is roughly triple the number in the last midterm election. The deployment would be the largest observation effort in the department’s history.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu;; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
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