The U.S. Department of Justice sent election monitors to Franklin County on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as part of a first-ever deployment to all 50 states.
The agency called it the largest monitoring effort in its history, with approximately 1,000 monitors and observers spread across the country. In Ohio, monitors were assigned to three counties: Franklin, Cuyahoga and Medina, according to the DOJ's announcement.
Hilliard voters casting ballots at Franklin County polling locations may encounter the federal observers. The monitors are checking for compliance with federal voting rights laws, including the Voting Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the National Voter Registration Act, the DOJ said.
The Civil Rights Division coordinated the effort. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement that the department was "pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner."
The DOJ has sent election monitors since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. During the Biden administration, the department sent monitors to 64 jurisdictions across 24 states for the 2022 midterms, the Ohio Capital Journal reported.
The three Ohio county boards of elections received letters from DOJ trial attorney James Catania, who identified himself as the regional coordinator supervising the monitors, Ideastream State News reported. Catania said monitors would only observe election operations and would not intrude or interfere in the voting process.
Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said the deployment is not unusual. "They operate under very specific rules. They may not impede voters. They may not interfere in the process whatsoever," LaRose said, according to the Statehouse News Bureau. "It's right there in the name. They are observers, and they may observe, but that's about it."
Some voting rights groups, including the NAACP, said they believe the deployment could suppress turnout and disenfranchise voters, particularly from minority groups, USA Today reported. In early October, the NAACP sued the DOJ for records about the monitoring program, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
In states with closely contested Senate races, monitors were assigned to cities and counties with disproportionately high levels of Black and Hispanic residents, according to U.S. Census data cited by USA Today. But the pattern was not uniform. Medina County, one of Ohio's three monitored counties, is 90% white, USA Today reported.
Harry Black, a senior counsel at the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, said during a panel discussion at the University of Pittsburgh that the 1,000 monitors would be spread thin. The 2024 election included more than 95,000 polling places nationwide, according to U.S. Election Assistance Commission data cited by the Ohio Capital Journal.
Franklin County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Rick Minerd said deputies would be both visible and in plain clothes on Election Day, working alongside election officials. He said there were no specific threats to central Ohio's election as of Monday, Nov. 2, according to WBNS.
Voters with questions or complaints about federal voting rights can call the DOJ's election hotline at 1-800-253-3931 or email [email protected].
