The Justice Department plans to place about 1,000 election monitors in all 50 states on Nov. 3, a department spokesperson said Monday, while withholding the full list of sites until Election Day¹.

Federal monitors have watched polling places for decades under Democratic and Republican administrations, typically to check compliance with federal voting-rights laws^1,2,3. The 2026 plan is larger than recent midterms: States Newsroom cited a 2022 deployment to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states; a DOJ official told PBS News the 2022 figure was 388 people, and a DOJ official told CBS News 289 people went out in 2022 and 714 people in 2024^1,2,3.

Spokesperson Kiersten Pels told States Newsroom that monitors “will merely observe and report any potential violations of federal law” for review after the election¹. A senior department official told PBS News that monitors, including lawyers, will not be sent to early-voting sites, that they received a training video, and that they are to observe and report rather than intervene on Election Day².

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, said in August that monitors are trained on materials used by prior administrations and will look for barriers facing voters with disabilities as well as suspected fraud⁴. Dhillon said the planned count is probably historic for a Republican administration⁴. CBS News reported that a spokesperson said the department would recruit federal employees, including from U.S. attorney offices, to volunteer³.

The full map of assignments remains undisclosed at the national level¹. Some jurisdictions have already been told they will receive monitors. Local officials have named King County, Washington; Multnomah County, Oregon; Salt Lake County, Utah; Portland and Lewiston, Maine; Adams County, Colorado; and, in Pennsylvania, Allegheny, Lehigh, Luzerne and Philadelphia counties^1,2,5.

A letter to Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said monitors only observe and take notes, follow state and local rules, do not wear identifying uniforms or pins, do not speak with voters inside polling places and do not carry firearms⁵. Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican, said monitors would not approach voters or wear insignia¹.

Reactions among state officials split. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican, said monitors cannot go behind voter-ID checkpoints and called even one monitor in Kansas overkill given how many polling places exist². Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said her office would watch the monitors so they do not cross legal lines¹. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said she saw no reasonable basis for the monitors and accused the department of trying to undermine the election if results go against President Donald Trump².

Voting-rights groups have also raised alarms. The NAACP sued in early October for records about the program; lawyers argued in the complaint that a large federal presence could interfere with voting without intimidation¹. A federal judge in Washington denied an emergency order to force immediate production of records; the lawsuit continues¹. Common Cause’s Andrew Walchuk said monitoring itself is not new but that his group would watch this administration closely¹.

Election-law specialists have said 1,000 people cannot cover the country’s polling places. The Election Assistance Commission counted more than 95,000 polling places in 2024¹. Harry Black of the Brennan Center said the numbers do not support a claim of nationwide interference¹. David Becker, a former Civil Rights Division attorney, told PBS News the scale is unusual but that monitors must still follow state and local rules on access².

PBS News reported a change this year: prosecutors may serve as monitors, a practice a former department official said had long been avoided because prosecutors can appear more intimidating². A senior official confirmed prosecutors would participate but would not personally prosecute a case they observed, and said monitors would not check citizenship at the polls².

Outlets differ on 2022 headcounts. The complete county list, staffing per site, and any Election Day incidents remain unknown^1,5.