The Department of Justice announced Friday it plans to deploy federal election observers to polling sites in California and New Jersey next month, responding to formal requests from state Republican parties ahead of two closely watched off-year elections.
According to The Associated Press, the DOJ said monitors will be stationed in Passaic County, New Jersey, and five counties across California — Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside, and Fresno — “to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”
“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement to The Associated Press.
While federal election monitoring is a routine practice, the decision to focus on two deep-blue states comes as both prepare for high-stakes contests on Nov. 4. New Jersey voters will elect a new governor, while Californians will weigh in on a redistricting proposition that could reshape the state’s congressional map — potentially adding several Democratic-held seats to the U.S. House.
The move has ignited political backlash, particularly from Democrats who view the federal deployment as an unnecessary intrusion.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin slammed the decision as “highly inappropriate,” arguing that the DOJ “has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions.”
California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks accused Republicans of attempting to undermine the democratic process, saying, “No amount of election interference by the California Republican Party is going to silence the voices of California voters.”
According to a letter obtained by the AP, California GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin requested federal monitors earlier this week, citing “reports of irregularities” that could “undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results.”
The party specifically pointed to ballot handling issues and alleged problems maintaining voter rolls in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The DOJ has recently sued at least eight states, including California, as part of a broader effort to collect detailed voter roll data — though officials have not explained the purpose of that request.
Brandon Richards, a spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom, accused the DOJ of overstepping its authority. “Deploying these federal forces appears to be an intimidation tactic meant for one thing: suppress the vote,” Richards said in an email.
Election officials in California’s largest counties pushed back on that claim. Orange County Registrar Bob Page said his office welcomes observers “at all levels” and described local elections as “accessible, accurate, fair, secure, and transparent.”
Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan echoed that sentiment, saying, “Voters can have confidence their ballot is handled securely and counted accurately.”
California’s vote count is often a lengthy process — most residents cast mail ballots, and the state’s detailed verification procedures can delay final tallies for weeks.
New Jersey Republicans made similar appeals in their letter to the DOJ, urging monitors to “oversee the receipt and processing of vote-by-mail ballots” and to “monitor access to the Board of Elections around the clock” in Passaic County.
The county, which has shifted politically in recent years, could play a pivotal role in GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli’s challenge against Democrat Mikie Sherrill. GOP officials argued the area has a “long and sordid history” of mail-in ballot issues, citing a 2020 case in which a judge ordered a new election in Paterson after several candidates were charged with voter fraud.
“The reason that we have concerns about this is because there’s been a significant history of fraud,” said Kate Gibbs, executive director of the NJGOP.
Platkin, however, said his office “is considering all of our options to prevent any effort to intimidate voters or interfere with our elections.”
Election observers from both parties already monitor polling sites across the country, and the DOJ has historically deployed personnel to jurisdictions with histories of voting rights violations.
Still, the decision comes amid renewed Republican focus on election integrity following years of false claims from former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election was stolen. Trump has repeatedly attacked mail-in voting and earlier this year pledged to ban it nationwide — a move that would be unconstitutional.
The DOJ said its Civil Rights Division, led by Harmeet Dhillon, will oversee the monitoring effort in coordination with U.S. attorney’s offices and local election officials.
David Becker, a former DOJ attorney and current head of the Center for Election Integrity & Research, cautioned that federal monitors are not allowed to interfere with voting and typically operate only with local consent.
“If the administration tried to send monitors without a clear legal rationale to a place where local officials didn’t want them,” Becker warned, “that could result in chaos.”
