Trump DOJ to monitor polling sites in 2 blue states in response to concerns about voter fraud, ‘irregularities’

The Trump Justice Department announced on Friday that it will monitor several polling sites in California and New Jersey ahead of the blue states’ off-year Nov. 4 elections “to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division will specifically deploy personnel to monitor polling sites in the California’s Kern, Riverside, Fresno, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties as well as in New Jersey’s Passaic County.

‘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.’

“The Department of Justice will do everything necessary to protect the votes of eligible American citizens, ensuring our elections are safe and secure,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division. “Transparent election processes and election monitoring are critical tools for safeguarding our elections and ensuring public trust in the integrity of our elections.”

In New Jersey, voters are set to decide who will replace Gov. Phil Murphy (D).

It is presently a close race between Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli, the former New Jersey assemblyman who fell short by fewer than four points in the 2021 gubernatorial race.

According to a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll, 50% of voters would have cast votes for Sherrill and 45% would have cast votes for Ciattarelli if the election were held this week.

New Jersey Republicans recently asked the Justice Department in an Oct. 20 letter to dispatch Civil Rights Division personnel to monitor both the handling of vote-by-mail ballots and access to the Board of Elections in Passaic County, a historically Democratic stronghold that supported President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

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Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

The New Jersey GOP stressed the urgency of such oversight, citing a “long and sordid history of [vote-by-mail ballot] fraud,” a dearth of transparency, and an allegedly insufficient response to potential fraud by state officials.

Concerns over potential mail-in voting improprieties appear to have heightened in recent years not only by the voter fraud scandal that marred a 2020 city council election in Paterson, the county’s most populous city, but the alleged refusal by the county’s Board of Elections to allow security cameras to monitor ballot storage areas.

The California Republican Party similarly requested the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to provide monitors in five counties in the Golden State.

‘Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process.’

Corrin Rankin, chairwoman of the state GOP, said Monday in a letter to Dhillon, “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.”

Ensuring the integrity of the Nov. 4 election is all the more important because its result could impact future federal elections.

In California, voters will decide on Proposition 50, a measure that would replace the state’s current congressional map with a version that creates five new majority-Democrat districts.

This redistricting scheme was championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and endorsed by former President Barack Obama after both men and multitudes of other Democrats spent weeks pearl-clutching about Texas Republicans’ successful adoption of a new congressional map on Aug. 29.

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), among the critics of Proposition 50, told the Houston Chronicle, “It is very wrong what they’re trying to do in California. It is not at all serving the people. It is serving the party.”

While the DOJ regularly sends personnel to ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections across the country, Democrats in both blue states are fuming over the planned presence of Civil Rights Division monitors at poll sites in their upcoming elections.

“This is not a federal election. The U.S. DOJ has no business or basis to interfere with this election. This is solely about whether California amends our state constitution,” Newsom’s office stated on X. “This administration has made no secret of its goal to undermine free and fair elections. Deploying these federal forces appears to be an intimidation tactic meant for one thing: suppress the vote.”

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin (D) said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press that the move was “highly inappropriate” and suggested that the Justice Department “has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi noted, “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.”

“We will commit the resources necessary to ensure the American people get the fair, free, and transparent elections they deserve,” added Bondi.

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