DOJ says it sent election monitors to all 50 states

As of 7:56 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026

The Justice Department said it deployed about 1,000 election monitors and observers to all 50 states for Tuesday's midterm elections, which the department called the largest monitoring effort in its history.

The department announced the effort in a press release on Election Day, Nov. 3, and listed the counties, cities and towns where it intended to monitor or observe voting. The department has sent monitors to elections since the Voting Rights Act became law in 1965, under administrations of both parties, the release said.

"Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division," said Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general who leads the Civil Rights Division, which coordinated the effort. "I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner."

Who the monitors are

The monitors include Civil Rights Division staff, employees from other parts of the department and U.S. attorney's offices, and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, the department said. It said division staff would stay in contact with state and local election officials throughout Election Day.

According to the department, monitors check for compliance with federal voting laws the division enforces, including the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, the law protecting military and overseas voters, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The division's Criminal Section enforces federal laws against voter intimidation and suppression based on race, color, national origin or religion.

Where they went

The list covers dozens of jurisdictions, from Maricopa and Pima counties in Arizona and Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties in Georgia to Philadelphia and Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, Detroit and Dearborn in Michigan, and Los Angeles County in California. In North Carolina, the department listed Alamance, Mecklenburg and Wake counties.

Most states have one to four entries. Michigan has eight entries, the most of any state, followed by Texas with seven and Georgia and Illinois with six each.

What monitors can and cannot do

Elections are run by state and local officials, and the department's staff monitors have no special legal right to enter polling places, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Under administrations of both parties, the department has agreed that staff monitors cannot enter a polling place without a state's consent, are subject to state election laws and must identify themselves as monitors, the center said.

Monitors may watch and report what they see. They may not block voters from entering a polling place, order election workers to take any action or interfere with the running of a polling place, according to the center. Federal law also bars them from political activity, and it is illegal for anyone, including federal monitors, to intimidate voters or election workers.

A separate category, federal observers with legal authority to enter polling places under the Voting Rights Act, can be sent only where a court orders it or a jurisdiction agrees in a legal settlement. As of 2026, that applies in three places: Union County, New Jersey; Pawtucket, Rhode Island; and St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, according to the center.

How it differs from congressional observers

The Justice Department effort is separate from the observer programs run by Senate Democrats and Republicans. In October, Senate Democratic leaders said more than 100 Democratic Senate staff had been trained as congressional observers for nine states, and Senate Republicans said they had an equivalent program. Congressional observers operate under a 2024 federal law that gives them broader access to watch election procedures, including vote counting, the Brennan Center said.

How to report problems

The department asked the public to report questions or complaints about federal voting rights to its hotline at 1-800-253-3931, by email at VEM@usdoj.gov or online at civilrights.justice.gov/report. Problems at a polling place should go first to local election officials, and violence, threats or intimidation should be reported to local police by calling 911, the department said.