California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday the state will deploy its own election observers on Election Day to monitor the Trump administration’s federal monitors.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Friday it planned to send federal election watchers to both California and New Jersey, as both states face closely watched elections. While federal observers are typically standard procedure, Bonta told reporters during a virtual conference that “these are not normal times,” adding how he wouldn’t be able to state who will be watching the federal monitors, but that there will be “oversight,” according to KCRA.
“Of course, there will be observers of the so-called election monitors that the DOJ is sending,” Bonta told reporters during a virtual news conference. “They will not be allowed to interfere in ways that the law prohibits.”
“I can’t name names but there is going to be oversight and accountability,” Bonta added.
The closely watched election in California centers on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s gerrymandering proposal, Proposition 50, which could potentially unseat five of the state’s nine Republican House members. The decision to redraw California’s congressional map came in response to Texas’ redistricting move.
California’s elections have long faced scrutiny — not only for how long it takes the state to certify results, but also for its lack of voter ID requirements and reliance on mail-in ballots.
In 2021, Newsom signed Assembly Bill 37, making universal mail-in voting permanent and requiring counties to automatically mail ballots to all active, registered voters. By 2024, the Democratic governor additionally approved SB 1174, which prohibited local governments from requiring voters to present identification when casting their ballots at the polls.
The DOJ’s decision to send federal election observers came after California GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin sent a letter on Oct. 20 to DOJ Civil Rights Division attorney Harmeet Dhillon, requesting federal oversight amid concerns about certain counties.
“In recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election,” the letter stated, according to ABC7.
Concerns about California’s potential election fraud and voter ID came under the spotlight in September, after the Orange County District Attorney’s Office charged a 62-year-old woman with five felonies for illegally registering her dog to vote and casting ballots in her dog’s name in the 2021 state gubernatorial recall election and the 2022 primary election.
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