After the Department of Justice said it planned to deploy 1,000 federal election observers ahead of the midterms, top Democrats are now demanding answers about where the monitors will go, what they will do, and how they’re being trained.
In a letter shared first with MS NOW, Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Joe Morelle, D-N.Y. — the top two Democrats on the Judiciary and Administration committees, respectively — asked Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon to provide internal documents about the deployments. The Democrats also want all communications about the monitors and any correspondence about their deployments.
“The DOJ must demonstrate that it is not misusing its election monitoring program in any way and that its monitors are being used for appropriate purposes,” the lawmakers write.
The lawmakers cited concerns from Wyoming Republican Governor Mark Gordon, who said monitors from the DOJ behaved “a bit aggressive” and “irregular,” during the state’s primary election. During a state canvassing board meeting, Gordon said he asked state Attorney General Keith Kautz to investigate the nature of the monitors’ visits.
The episode has given Democrats an opening to press the administration for details about election-monitoring operations that are expected to be significantly expanded this year.
“In light of this startling report, and in order to ensure that DOJ’s election monitoring program is being used appropriately in advance of the November 2026 midterm election, we request a briefing, any relevant memoranda and training materials, and information detailing where you intend to deploy election monitors and what they will be tasked with doing,” the Democrats write.
The Trump administration isn’t the first to deploy election monitors. Under President Joe Biden, DOJ previously sent monitors to polling places to track compliance with federal voting rights laws during the 2024 and 2022 elections.
The Justice Department website lists two types of election monitoring efforts to “assess compliance with federal voting rights laws.”
In an interview with Real America’s Voice, Dhillon said the observers are “not going to be interfering with the election in any way,” noting that the DOJ will “take care” of any problems “afterwards.”
“This is going to be the biggest DOJ election observer effort in history,” Dhillon said.
But the Wyoming episode has prompted Democrats to seek more information about the expanded monitoring effort.
Despite the assistant attorney general’s claims that monitors would just be observing, Democrats are not leaving it up to chance after the Wyoming governor’s complaints.
“The DOJ must demonstrate that it is not misusing its election monitoring program in any way and that its monitors are being used for appropriate purposes,” the lawmakers write. “It is the duty of our Committees to ensure the integrity of federal elections, including of the DOJ’s election monitoring program.”
Blanche and Dhillon do not have to respond to the letter, given that Democrats don’t have subpoena power or legal authority as the minority party in the House. But the letter offers insight into how Raskin and Morelle’s committees would investigate the Trump administration if Democrats win back the majority in November.
Raskin chalked up the presence of election monitors as Trump’s latest attempt to “sabotage” the midterm elections, in a statement to MS NOW.
“Without any program for America beyond war, tariffs, and inflation, Donald Trump has spent months searching for ways to sabotage the midterm elections,” Raskin said. “Midterm extreme gerrymander maps, voter suppression laws, taxpayer-funded agit-prop TV commercials, Post Office election takeover gambit — what now? Next up is the deployment of DOJ election monitors to the polls.”
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