In response to requests from state Republican parties, the Department of Justice announced plans on Friday to send federal election monitors to California and New Jersey ahead of November’s election.
And although election monitors are not necessarily unusual under appropriate circumstances, election experts are raising questions about this specific announcement, including which federal law the DOJ is enforcing and about the qualifications of the observers.
Both Democratic states are holding closely watched elections with high stakes for the MAGA coalition. California currently has a redistricting proposal on the ballot that would allow Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional map, a way to offset GOP gerrymanders in states such as Texas and North Carolina. New Jersey has an open governor’s seat and a tight race for it between Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) and former state assemblyman and businessman Jack Ciattarelli (R).
According to the Justice Department, the goal of this election monitoring is to “protect the votes of eligible American citizens.”
It will monitor six jurisdictions, it said, including a key swing county in northern New Jersey and five counties in southern and central California.
“The Trump Department of Justice’s announcement that it is sending federal ‘election monitors’ to Passaic County is highly inappropriate, and DOJ has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions,” New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin in a statement Friday.
New Jersey’s Republican Party had requested that the DOJ “oversee the receipt and processing of vote-by-mail ballots” and “take steps to monitor access to the Board of Elections around the clock,” according to the Associated Press. The California state GOP pointed to “reports of irregularities” in past elections.
Among election experts, there were several things that raised eyebrows about the DOJ announcement. One, Rick Hasen, said on social media it was a “test run for 2026.”
“They are very vague about this, but the federal laws that the Justice Department uses to monitor elections generally are the laws that protect minority and minority-language voters from any kind of discrimination in voting,” said David Becker, a former DOJ lawyer and the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research.
“I haven’t seen any allegations that any of these jurisdictions may potentially have problems with those,” Becker told TPM.
Becker pointed out several other unusual things about the announcement. Most glaringly, it does not say which federal law it specifically is seeking to ensure compliance with.
The Justice Department has not said who will be observing these jurisdictions, Becker also noted. Typically, he said, these monitors are Department of Justice Voting Section attorneys, but because there are not many of those currently, it’s unclear who they will be.
“There aren’t that many voting section attorneys right now, and they’re looking at several counties to monitor,” he explained. “So I think it’s appropriate for the Department of Justice to reveal who’s going to be monitoring, and if they’re not voting section attorneys, what qualifications do they have to assess compliance with any federal law.”
Becker also flagged that it’s unclear whether or not these jurisdictions have been contacted and given consent to this monitoring.
“It may or may not be necessary, but I can tell you it was DOJ practice all the time to always contact these jurisdictions before an announcement to make sure there was a mutual understanding of the respective roles, to know who would contact whom to confirm that the people monitoring would be well-trained and not interfere in any way with voting process,” Becker added.
The monitoring will be overseen by the Civil Rights Division and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s announcement said.
“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 Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “We will commit the resources necessary to ensure the American people get the fair, free, and transparent elections they deserve.”
