By Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has begun telling counties where it plans to post federal election monitors on Nov. 3, and the list is growing two days before New Yorkers start voting early.
Counties in Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have received notices so far, NPR reported Wednesday, including seven Texas counties, King County, Wash., Miami-Dade County, Fla., and Hennepin and Ramsey counties in Minnesota. No New York county has been publicly identified. In several states, NPR found, state election officials were not told at the same time as the counties, as they had been in past cycles, and received notice only after the network asked the department why.
Early voting in New York begins Saturday and runs through Nov. 1.
‘The largest monitoring effort’
The Justice Department has watched elections for decades to check compliance with federal voting laws. Under President Biden, it monitored 64 jurisdictions in 24 states on Election Day in 2022, the last midterm year, according to NPR.
This year is bigger by design. Last month, Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the department’s Civil Rights Division, said it planned to send 1,000 observers nationwide in what she called “the largest monitoring effort” in the department’s history.
Which places, and how many, remain unclear. A department spokesperson, Kiersten Pels, told NPR those details would be shared “closer to the election,” and said the department prioritizes places with competitive races. She said Adams County, Colo., was chosen in part because it is covered by Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires election materials in the languages voters speak.
The county’s clerk, Democrat Josh Zygielbaum, noted that the neighboring, Republican-run county sharing the same toss-up congressional district did not get a notice.
“My initial thought is that it’s politically motivated, and that this is potentially an intimidation technique,” Mr. Zygielbaum told NPR.
Republicans have raised concerns too. In Wyoming, the governor complained of “aggressive” and “irregular” behavior by federal monitors during the August primary, NPR reported. The department rejected that.
“We disagree with the public framing that the two monitors we sent were ‘aggressive’ or did anything improper,” Ms. Pels said.
The rules in New York
New York has already put its rules for monitors in writing.
In an Oct. 5 advisory to county boards of elections and police, Attorney General Letitia James told local officials that the department “may send monitors to New York.” Those monitors, the accompanying guidance says, may not demand identification, challenge voters, direct or interfere with poll workers, or campaign. They typically coordinate with local election officials in advance, and poll workers who meet someone claiming to be a federal monitor without prior notice should call their county board.
The guidance also reminds officials that federal law makes it a crime to order or keep troops or armed federal officers, including ICE, Customs and Border Protection and FBI agents, at a polling place.
“Every New Yorker has the right to vote freely and safely, without fear of being threatened or harassed in the voting booth,” Ms. James said in a statement. “I will not let anyone or anything stand between New Yorkers and the ballot box.”
New York never requires photo ID to vote. Only election officials may ask for identification, and only in limited cases for first-time voters; the attorney general’s office says a poll watcher or observer demanding a voter’s ID or proof of citizenship may be committing illegal intimidation.
What Western New York voters should know
Saturday, Oct. 24, is also the last day to register and the last day to request a mail ballot online or by mail. Voters outside New York City may vote early at any early voting site in their county; Erie and Niagara county voters can find sites through their county boards of elections or the state’s poll site search. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day.
Mail ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by Nov. 10. Because of recent changes in how the Postal Service applies postmarks, the attorney general’s office warns, a ballot dropped in a mailbox may not be postmarked for a day or more, so voters may want to drop ballots off in person at their county board or any early voting site.
The attorney general’s Election Protection Hotline, 866-390-2992, is open from Oct. 24 through Nov. 4. Anyone who sees dangerous or violent conduct at a polling site should call 911.
The open questions
Federal observers are not new, and many states reported no problems with them during this year’s primaries. But the department has not said whether it plans to monitor any New York county, which races it considers competitive, or what instructions its 1,000 observers will carry. County election commissioners, who would be the first to hear, are the officials best placed to tell voters. It was not known by publication time whether the Erie County Board of Elections has received a notice; the Buffalo Chronicle will update this story if the board comments.
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