DOJ Sending Election Monitors To Fairfax, Prince William County Polls

The U.S. government announced Tuesday that it would send election monitors to sites in all 50 states for the first time. In Virginia, federal poll watchers will be sent to Fairfax and Prince William Counties.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice release, the agency launched what is called the largest monitoring effort in American history, involving more than 1,000 election monitors and observers.

The DOJ says its efforts are being coordinated by its Civil Rights Division and will include personnel from the DOJ, U.S. Attorney’s Offices the Office of Personnel Management, who will be in contact with state and local officials.

Election monitors will check compliance with federal voting rights statutes under their jurisdiction, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, and Civil Rights Act, the release says.

In Virginia, the DOJ will have election monitors in four areas: Fairfax County, Prince William County, Charlottesville and Virginia Beach.

In 19 other states, federal monitors will only be at one site. Michigan will have the most monitored sites, with eight, followed by Texas with seven and Georgia and Illinois with six.

The release did not say how the DOJ chose the destinations.

Just before Virginia’s August 4 primary, Senator Mark Warner questioned how the DOJ chose primary voting sites to monitor, requesting access to the DOJ’s scoring criteria and other data on its selection process. In a statement, Warner said “false statements, threats, and election misinformation” repeated by President Donald Trump and DOJ personnel suggested that some election monitoring decisions could be politically driven.

The Trump administration has repeatedly scrutinized and chastised Fairfax County over plea bargaining and sentencing decisions made there.

In Congressional testimony from 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft explained that federal monitors are sent to jurisdictions subject to court orders or agreements authorizing federal election monitors, jurisdictions where federal voting rights violations had recently occurred and jurisdictions where credible evidence, including complaints from citizens or requests from local election officials, indicated monitoring was needed.

The DOJ has deployed election monitors since 1966.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division said in the release that the department is “pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner.”

What Voters Should Know

Federal monitors are expected to observe election procedures rather than direct voting operations or interfere with voters.

The monitoring teams include personnel from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, other department components, U.S. Attorney's Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management.

Voters who encounter problems at polling places should first notify local election officials.

The Justice Department is also accepting complaints about potential violations of federal voting rights laws through the following channels:

• Election complaints hotline: 1-800-253-3931
• Email: VEM@usdoj.gov
• Online complaints: DOJ Civil Rights Division
• Disability access complaints: 1-800-514-0301

Anyone experiencing violence, threats of violence or intimidation at a polling place should call 911 immediately, the department said.

The Justice Department said its Civil Rights Division will remain available throughout Election Day and the rest of the week to receive voting-related questions and complaints.