The U.S. Department of Justice is gearing up to deploy federal election observers to the states of California and New Jersey in the upcoming month. This decision follows appeals from state Republican parties and focuses on two Democratic states conducting off-year elections.

On Friday, the DOJ disclosed plans to oversee polling locations in Passaic County, New Jersey, alongside five counties in California, namely Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside, and Fresno. The initiative aims to guarantee transparency, secure the ballots, and ensure adherence to federal laws, as articulated by the DOJ.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi emphasized the importance of election transparency, stating, “Ensuring openness at polling stations bolsters confidence in the electoral process, and the Department of Justice is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of election integrity,” in a statement to The Associated Press.

While monitoring elections is a routine duty for the Justice Department, the spotlight on California and New Jersey arises as both states prepare for significant elections on November 4, with implications that extend nationally. New Jersey’s gubernatorial race is drawing considerable financial attention from both major parties, while California’s special election seeks to reshape the congressional map to counteract Republican gerrymandering, setting the stage for the 2026 midterms.

This move by the DOJ aligns with the GOP’s ongoing focus on election security, a concern heightened by former President Donald Trump’s persistent refusal to acknowledge the 2020 election results and his baseless claims of widespread fraud through mail-in voting. Democrats worry that this approach might pave the way for similar unfounded accusations of fraud in the upcoming midterm elections, potentially giving the new administration a strategic edge.

The announcement comes days after the Republican parties in both states wrote letters to the DOJ requesting their assistance. Some leading Democrats in the states blasted the decision.

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin called the move “highly inappropriate” and said the DOJ “has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions.”

Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, said in a statement that “No amount of election interference by the California Republican Party is going to silence the voices of California voters.”

California’s House districts at stake

The letter from the California GOP, sent Monday and obtained by the AP, asked Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, to provide monitors to observe the election in the five counties.

“In recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election,” wrote GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin.

The state is set to vote Nov. 4 on a redistricting proposition that would dramatically redraw California’s congressional lines to add as many as five additional Democratic seats to its U.S. House delegation.

Each of the counties named, they alleged, has experienced recent voting issues, such as sending incorrect or duplicate ballots to voters. They also take issue with how Los Angeles and Orange counties maintain their voter rolls.

California is one of at least eight states the Justice Department has sued as part of a wide-ranging request for detailed voter roll information involving at least half the states. The department has not said why it wants the data.

Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page said he welcomes anyone who wants to watch the county’s election operations and said it’s common to have local, state, federal and even international observers. He described Orange County’s elections as “accessible, accurate, fair, secure, and transparent.”

Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan said election observers are standard practice across the country and that the county, with 5.8 million registered voters, is continuously updating and verifying its voter records.

“Voters can have confidence their ballot is handled securely and counted accurately,” he said.

Most Californians vote using mail ballots returned through the postal service, drop boxes or at local voting centers, which typically leaves polling places relatively quiet on Election Day. But in pursuit of accuracy and counting every vote, the nation’s most populous state has gained a reputation for tallies that can drag on for weeks – and sometimes longer.

In 2024, it took until early December to declare Democrat Adam Gray the winner in his Central Valley district, the final congressional race to be decided in the nation last year.

Election observers are nothing new

Local election offices and polling places around the country already have observers from both political parties to ensure rules are followed. The DOJ also has a long history of sending observers to jurisdictions that have histories of voting rights violations to ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws.

Last year, when the Biden administration was still in power, some Republican-led states said they would not allow federal monitors to access voting locations on Election Day.

Trump has for years railed against mail voting as part of his repeated false claims that former President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 was rigged. He alleges it is riddled with fraud, even though numerous studies have found no evidence of widespread fraud in U.S. elections.

Earlier this year, Trump pledged to ban vote-by-mail across the country, something he has no power to do under the U.S. Constitution.

The DOJ’s effort will be overseen by Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division, which will deploy personnel in coordination with U.S. attorney’s offices and work closely with state and local officials, the department said

The department also is soliciting further requests for monitoring in other jurisdictions.

David Becker, a former DOJ attorney who has served as an election monitor and trained them, said the work is typically done by department lawyers who are prohibited from interfering at polling places.

But Becker, now executive director of the Center for Election Integrity & Research, said local jurisdictions normally agree to the monitors’ presence.

If the administration tried to send monitors without a clear legal rationale to a place where local officials didn’t want them, “That could result in chaos,” he said.