The Justice Department announced Tuesday, Nov. 3, that it would deploy about 1,000 election monitors and observers nationwide, with personnel assigned across all 50 states.

The department’s official list names three Ohio counties: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Medina. Warren County is not on the announced list.

DOJ described the deployment as its largest monitoring effort and its first to reach every state. The Civil Rights Division is coordinating it.

What monitors can do

The department says monitors will check compliance with federal voting rights laws, including protections against discrimination and barriers faced by voters with disabilities. Federal election monitoring dates to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Reuters reported that DOJ staff cannot conduct investigations at polling places or stop anyone from voting. Access to the inside of polling locations can also be limited by state and local laws.

Justice Department officials have said monitors will be unarmed and will not interfere with voting, WKYC reported.

Expansion draws scrutiny

The deployment is roughly three times the size of the effort during the previous midterm election, according to Reuters. The news agency’s analysis found that more than two-thirds of the selected jurisdictions backed Democrat Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates have raised concerns that the expanded federal presence could intimidate voters or fail to protect their rights, WKYC reported.

The department says its priorities include places with past voter access problems and competitive races where intimidation could occur, according to Reuters. WKYC also reported that Democratic and nonprofit groups are organizing volunteers to watch for and report concerning activity outside polling places.

Help for Warren County voters

Ohio polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. Anyone in line by 7:30 p.m. may vote, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Election Day guidance.

Voters who encounter a problem should first alert polling-place officials. If it cannot be resolved, state guidance says to contact the county board of elections or report a potential election law violation to the Secretary of State’s Election Integrity Unit.

Call 911 for violence or threats of violence at a polling place. DOJ asks that intimidation also be reported immediately to local police, then to the department.