The United States Department of Justice is preparing to deploy about 1,000 federal monitors to polling locations across the country during the 2026 midterm elections, according to the head of its Civil Rights Division.
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon disclosed the plan during remarks to Bloomberg on Monday.
The Justice Department has for years deployed personnel to polling stations to monitor compliance with federal voting laws, particularly the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination and voter intimidation based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability and other protected characteristics.
Historically, DOJ attorneys and other department employees have carried out the monitoring, with additional support from US Attorney’s Offices when necessary.
The proposed deployment would represent a significant increase from previous elections. During the 2022 midterms, about 289 Justice Department personnel were sent to polling locations, according to a DOJ official who spoke to CBS News.
The department expanded the programme during the 2024 presidential election, sending 714 people to monitor voting law compliance in 27 states and 86 jurisdictions.
Former officials said most of the 714 personnel were DOJ lawyers and staff, while a smaller number came from a separate federal observer programme administered by the Office of Personnel Management. That programme recruits and trains volunteers to observe voting at specific polling locations covered by court orders.
However, questions remain about how the Justice Department will assemble 1,000 monitors for the upcoming election, particularly because its Civil Rights Division has experienced a major reduction in staff under the Trump administration.
More than 70% of the division’s career employees reportedly took early retirement or resigned amid concerns about changes to its mission under Dhillon. Although the assistant attorney general has recruited additional lawyers, the division remains understaffed.
A DOJ spokesperson said the department plans to seek volunteers from across the federal workforce for the monitoring operation. A department official added that recruitment would focus on DOJ employees, including personnel working in US Attorney’s Offices.
The department is expected to release the full list of locations after the primary elections are completed. On Tuesday, it announced plans to send monitors to polling stations in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Laramie County, Wyoming, for their primary elections.
Although federal election monitoring is not new, the planned expansion comes amid heightened tensions between the Justice Department and several states over access to voter information.
The Civil Rights Division has filed 31 lawsuits seeking access to unredacted voter registration data from states, saying it wants to verify the accuracy of voter rolls and ensure non-citizens are not registered.
States involved in the legal battles have accused the federal government of attempting to undermine public confidence in the electoral system. Courts have so far blocked the Justice Department’s requests in 23 of the cases, and the government has not yet secured a victory in any of the lawsuits.
The Department of Homeland Security has also expressed interest in using voter information for criminal and immigration enforcement purposes.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has repeatedly disputed his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and made unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen.
The FBI has since opened several criminal investigations connected to the 2020 election, including investigations involving Fulton County, Georgia, and Arizona.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes recently filed a public records request seeking information about why the Justice Department plans to deploy election monitors in three counties during the state’s primary election.
