Following a long tradition, the Justice Department will send teams of federal observers across the country on Election Day next month and order the FBI to receive high-level clearance for sensitive investigations that may question the integrity of the election.
On November 8, not only control of Congress is decided, but also the legitimacy of the elections in the United States, after former President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential elections.
Many Americans are questioning the credibility of the election. At the same time, new laws passed by Republican state legislatures that activists say limit voting are being litigated in court by the Justice Department.
The department, which under the Biden administration has made voting rights one of its priorities, says federal monitors will watch the November election to “ensure that all qualified voters have the opportunity to vote and be counted without discrimination, intimidation no deletion.”
The United States has decentralized the election system and elections are administered at the county (municipal) level. However, the federal government also has a role.
The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is responsible for enforcing a number of federal laws created to protect the right to vote. These are the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.
In the past two election cycles, the Justice Department has dispatched monitors to about 20 states. The number may be similar this year, according to Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for the watchdog group Common Cause.
“They have given me no indication that they are going to vary their regular line and they told us that they will continue to do their work as usual,” said Albert.
The places that will be monitored are determined based on “a history of problems reported by voters or community groups in the area,” explained the activist.
The Justice Department unveils its monitoring plan the day before the election. A representative did not elaborate on the plans outside of those included in the news release.
Zack Smith, a Heritage Foundation fellow, said Justice Department monitors play an important role in ensuring equal access to voting.
“Their role is akin to a task force to react if problems arise in real time,” Smith said.
In addition to the Department of Justice, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in which the United States participates, will send observers “to closely monitor all aspects of the elections, including pre-election and post-election.”
“The mission is to assess whether the elections comply with commitments to the OSCE and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections, as well as national laws,” the OSCE explained in a September 29 statement.
In addition to protecting the right to vote, the Justice Department must uphold one of its oldest traditions: avoid any appearance of partisanship during an election year.
In a May 25 email to staff, Attorney General Merrick Garland urged his employees to be “particularly careful to protect the Justice Department’s reputation, neutrality and nonpartisanship.”
“Simply stated, partisan politics cannot play a role in the decisions of federal investigators or prosecutors in any criminal investigation or charge,” Garland wrote.
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