The Justice Department begins notifying counties where it wants to monitor elections

The Department of Justice this week began notifying the counties it wants to monitor on Election Day, NPR has learned.

Counties in Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have received notifications from the Justice Department so far, but the list seems to be growing in real time.

The department has long deployed monitors to ensure compliance with voting laws, but the Trump administration's unprecedented steps to try to wrestle control over elections from local and state governments have led to new concerns about DOJ monitoring this year. And already this week, at least one county official is raising questions about why his locality is on the DOJ's list.

Last month, Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said the department planned to send 1,000 observers nationwide, in what she termed "the largest monitoring effort" in DOJ history.

And even as counties are being notified, it's unclear which jurisdictions or how many the department plans to monitor this November. A DOJ spokesperson, Kiersten Pels, told NPR those details will be shared "closer to the election."

The Justice Department routinely observes elections. The department under President Biden monitored 64 jurisdictions in 24 states on Election Day in the last midterm year, 2022.

But to many local officials and experts, this year is different.

President Trump continues to falsely maintain that he won the 2020 election and that election fraud is more widespread than it has ever been proven to be. Experts worry federal law enforcement could potentially use those false claims — or others generated this year — as pretext to try to seize ballots during the counting period, or interfere in the process in some other way.

Most states reported no incidents with Justice Department monitors during primary elections earlier this year, but in Wyoming, the state's Republican governor expressed concern about "aggressive" and "irregular" behavior by monitors for the state's August primary. And the Republican county clerk of Laramie County told NBC News that the conduct of the monitors "showed complete disregard for our state laws and administration of our elections."

The Department of Justice disputes that characterization.

"We disagree with the public framing that the two monitors we sent were 'aggressive' or did anything improper," Pels said, adding that Dhillon had a meeting with the Wyoming officials after the fact.

In previous election cycles, state officials in the states where monitors were assigned were notified at the same time as the counties. This year, that did not happen initially, according to officials in three states who spoke to NPR anonymously because they weren't authorized to speak to the press. So states have been scrambling since the notifications began going out Tuesday to figure out where the DOJ plans to be.

After NPR asked the DOJ why states had not been notified, multiple state officials told NPR they then received notification from the department.

One of the counties that received a notification is Adams County, Colo.

The clerk there, Democrat Josh Zygielbaum, told NPR he wasn't shocked the DOJ selected his county to observe, as Adams County includes part of the state's 8th Congressional District, a toss-up district that could determine party control of the House of Representatives next year.

Zygielbaum was surprised however that the DOJ reached out only to him, and not the Republican clerk in neighboring Weld County, which also houses a sizable portion of that same congressional district.

"My initial thought is that it's politically motivated, and that this is potentially an intimidation technique," Zygielbaum said. "Although I like to assume the best in people, the administration really has shown its disdain for elections, particularly in states and counties where mail ballots exist."

Pels, of the DOJ, said the department prioritizes places with competitive elections, and would monitor Adams County because it is covered by Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires voters be given access to election materials in the language they speak. Weld County is not covered under that provision.

That explanation didn't fully comfort Zygielbaum.

"The fact that we're covered by Section 203 means we have a higher portion of Spanish-speaking voters who have a right to vote," Zygielbaum said. "It still doesn't put me at ease that it's not a targeted visit."

NPR reported in September that Trump administration officials assigned to noncitizen voting issues last year circulated a list of counties covered by Section 203, along with a DOJ criminal checklist outlining requirements for prosecution of voter-related charges.

Colorado state officials say they are considering how to respond to the DOJ's request, considering Colorado election rules say observers need to have permission from the secretary of state's office, unless they are ordered to observe by a court.

"We are considering these requests in collaboration with the Attorney General's Office," said Jack Todd, a spokesperson for the Colorado secretary of state's office.

Zygielbaum says his election processes won't change either way. He has, however, already requested a staffer from the state come to Adams County on Election Day just to keep an eye on the federal monitors if they do come.

"I have lots of questions about why they're there and what their ultimate intent is," he said.

NPR has confirmed the DOJ has also sent monitor notifications to seven counties in Texas, King County, Wash., Miami-Dade County, Fla., and Hennepin and Ramsey counties in Minnesota.

The DOJ requested to send monitors to the same Minnesota counties during the state's primary in August, but monitors were denied close access to polling locations. A spokesperson for the Minnesota secretary of state's office said it was too soon to know whether a different decision would be made for this fall's general election.

In 2024, Texas similarly blocked the Biden-era DOJ from election monitoring. Ken Paxton, the state attorney general and current Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, went to court then to block monitors from getting inside polling and counting locations.

"The DOJ knows it has no authority to monitor Texas elections and backed down when Texas stood up for the rule of law," Paxton said in a statement on Nov. 5, 2024.