The Justice Department is sending more than 1,000 federal monitors to polling places nationwide on Election Day, its largest such effort on record, as both parties step up their own watch on the midterms.
What the monitors will do
According to NBC News and a Justice Department spokesperson quoted by Just the News, the department plans to place more than 1,000 election monitors at polling locations in all 50 states for the Nov. 3, 2026, midterms.
Federal election monitors are Justice Department employees who visit polling places to watch whether voting follows federal laws such as the Voting Rights Act. That law bans discrimination and intimidation in voting. Past administrations from both parties have used the program. NBC News reported 289 monitors in the 2022 midterms and 714 in the 2024 presidential election.
A department spokesperson told Just the News that monitors must follow local rules and “only observe and take notes.” They are not supposed to interfere with voting or tell people how to vote. Votebeat reported that monitors generally need permission from local officials to enter a polling place, and that Colorado, Indiana and Wyoming have said they will keep federal monitors at a distance from the polls.
Why both sides are watching
The Trump administration says the push protects election integrity. On Nov. 2, the White House posted on X that there is “no room for election fraud” and that people involved in illegal voting or fraudulent registration “will be prosecuted.” The same day, the Justice Department announced charges involving 63 people, including four people it described as illegal aliens, for alleged illegal voting, fraudulent registration and related crimes. Attorney General Todd Blanche called it “the largest surge of voter-fraud arrests since President Trump returned to office.” The department said the charges are accusations and that defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Democrats and voting-rights groups say they fear federal pressure at the polls. Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Alex Padilla of California and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have recruited more than 100 Senate staff as election observers in multiple states. Padilla said Donald Trump “wants to ‘take over the voting’ in state-run elections” and that “Congress will be watching,” according to Votebeat. The NAACP asked a federal court to limit which Justice Department staff can serve as monitors; coverage of the case said a judge rejected an eleventh-hour bid to block law-enforcement personnel from the program.
Key facts
- More than 1,000 DOJ monitors planned for all 50 states on Election Day
- Prior tallies: 289 in 2022 and 714 in 2024, according to NBC News
- Nov. 2 DOJ charges involving 63 people for alleged election-related crimes
- Senate Democrats fielding 100-plus staff observers; rights groups also deploying volunteers
Polls are open across the country today. House, Senate and governor results will roll in tonight and in the days ahead as mail and provisional ballots are counted.
Sources: NBC News, Just the News, Votebeat, Justice Department press release, White House on X, Justice Department on X
