Justice Dept. says it will monitor polls in California and New Jersey

The Justice Department said Friday that it will monitor polling stations in six counties in California and New Jersey ahead of the Nov. 4 general election, describing the move as routine and aimed at ensuring transparency and ballot security at the polls.

The announcement triggered criticism from Democrats, who have a growing distrust in the Trump administration’s ability to act as a truly nonpartisan referee in elections, given President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and his more recent moves to redraw congressional maps to increase the Republican majority in Congress in next year’s midterms.

Federal observers will be present until Election Day at polls in Passaic County in New Jersey, and Kern, Riverside, Fresno, Orange and Los Angeles counties in southern and central California, the department said in a news release. “Transparent election processes and election monitoring are critical tools for safeguarding our elections,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

Having federal observers monitor elections is not unusual. The Justice Department posted observers throughout the country under Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush. The 1965 Voting Rights Act allows federal examiners to ensure that voters who want to register and cast their ballots can do so.

But the DOJ announcement follows requests from the Republican state committees in the two Democratic-led states asking the Justice Department to intervene, and expressing concern about transparency in those counties.

In a letter on Monday, the New Jersey Republican State Committee asked the Justice Department to send federal observers to ensure an accurate vote count in Passaic, expressing concern about mail-in ballots — a point of obsession for Trump despite evidence that there is negligible fraud committed through mailed ballots. The California Republican State Committee made a request the same day asking the Justice Department to intervene, according to The Associated Press.

The Justice Department’s announcement also comes the day before centers open in California for early voting on Proposition 50 — a proposal backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats after Texas redrew its districts this year to favor Republicans. It also comes amid a close gubernatorial race in New Jersey.

Democratic leaders in the two states have questioned the department’s motives, saying they appear designed to suppress the vote or disrupt voting at the polling stations.

“Trump is sending the DOJ to California to ‘monitor’ the election,” Newsom said on social media. “His intentions are clear — he wants to suppress the vote. And when we win, he will falsely lay claim to fraud. We will not be intimidated. California will defend free and fair elections.”

In an e-mailed statement, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin (D) said the Justice Department decision was “highly inappropriate,” and that the Constitution gives “states, not the federal government, the primary responsibility for running elections.”

“We are committed to ensuring that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and make their voices heard, and we are considering all of our options to prevent any effort to intimidate voters or interfere with our elections,” he said.

Trump has sought to create a political landscape that favors Republicans ahead of next year’s midterms. He has encouraged attempts to create new red seats in Missouri, Indiana and Ohio, and to carve out as many as five in Trump’s home state of Florida.

Trump has also pledged to end mail-in voting, which he has tended to view as favoring Democrats, despite polls showing that a majority of Republican voters are now confident in the integrity of that form of voting. More than 70% of Republicans expressed confidence in mail-in ballots in the 2024 election, compared with 19% in 2020, according to a Pew Research Center report released in December 2024.

California’s Proposition 50 has gained support from Democrats, who see the proposal as a legitimate way to impede Trump’s efforts. But it has also garnered opposition from moderate Republicans despite their opposition to Trump’s maneuvers.

“Two wrong behaviors don’t make a right behavior,” former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) said in September.