Officials say they want to make sure counties are complying with federal law.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is sending monitors to six counties to watch polling sites, it said on Oct. 24.
The personnel will monitor polls in Los Angeles County and four other counties in California. Personnel will also travel to Passaic County, New Jersey.
The effort is being overseen by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, which enforces various voting-related laws, including the Voting Rights Act.
“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We will commit the resources necessary to ensure the American people get the fair, free, and transparent elections they deserve.”
Harmeet Dhillon, the official in charge of the Civil Rights Division, added that “transparent election processes and election monitoring are critical tools for safeguarding our elections and ensuring public trust in the integrity of our elections.”
New Jersey is holding a gubernatorial election, and California is holding a special election in November.
The DOJ did not respond to a request for an explanation of how officials chose the six counties.
Republican parties in California and New Jersey earlier in the week asked the DOJ to monitor elections in these locales.
“In recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election,” Corrie Rankin, chairwoman of the California GOP, wrote to the DOJ.
“We welcome transparency in our elections, but U.S. DOJ’s presence is completely unnecessary,” a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta told The Epoch Times in an email.
The spokesperson noted that Bonta and other officials have been working on making sure California residents know about the right to vote and the upcoming election.
