Ministry of Justice to place 1,000 workers at polling stations in each state - some of them criminal prosecutors The Ministry of Justice plans to put about 1,000 of its own workers at polling stations across the country on election day, November 3, and has not yet said where. Civil Rights Division Chief Harmit Dillon announced the figure on Aug. 17, and by Sept. 22 she said the department was "pretty close" to it, calling it "the largest DOJ election observer effort in history," according to the NAACP's federal complaint. The complaint says the DOJ has never deployed more than 600 monitors in a previous election. Department spokeswoman Kirsten Fells told USA Today that the full list of districts would arrive early next week. District officials who were told to expect inspectors say their districts lean liberal and have large Hispanic populations. Fells said the department is prioritizing jurisdictions required to provide language assistance, areas lacking election observation data and determining consent decrees from previous election issues. Josh Zigilbaum, the Democratic clerk for Adams County, Colo., who is also at the polls, told him the monitors who came to his polling sites were criminal prosecutors. "It's almost like they come here to test the voter," he said. He added that in 2022, when DOJ sent inspectors to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states, his voting rights attorneys helped his office with Spanish-language translations. Officials elsewhere say they have not been given a reason. "We have not been told who or what caused this unique status," said Marion County, Ind., Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell. "We were not told what criteria were used for this determination. The private account of the departments is narrower. Peles said that every observer on election day will be Ministry of Justice personnel trained on state and local law, there to monitor, document and report, and are not allowed to intervene.

Ministry of Justice to place 1,000 workers at polling stations in each state - some of them criminal prosecutors The Ministry of Justice plans to put about 1,000 of its own workers at polling stations across the country on election day, November 3, and has not yet said where. Civil Rights Division Chief Harmit Dillon announced the figure on Aug. 17, and by Sept. 22 she said the department was "pretty close" to it, calling it "the largest DOJ election observer effort in history," according to the NAACP's federal complaint. The complaint says the DOJ has never deployed more than 600 monitors in a previous election. Department spokeswoman Kirsten Fells told USA Today that the full list of districts would arrive early next week. District officials who were told to expect inspectors say their districts lean liberal and have large Hispanic populations. Fells said the department is prioritizing jurisdictions required to provide language assistance, areas lacking election observation data and determining consent decrees from previous election issues. Josh Zigilbaum, the Democratic clerk for Adams County, Colo., who is also at the polls, told him the monitors who came to his polling sites were criminal prosecutors. "It's almost like they come here to test the voter," he said. He added that in 2022, when DOJ sent inspectors to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states, his voting rights attorneys helped his office with Spanish-language translations. Officials elsewhere say they have not been given a reason. "We have not been told who or what caused this unique status," said Marion County, Ind., Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell. "We were not told what criteria were used for this determination. The private account of the departments is narrower. Peles said that every observer on election day will be Ministry of Justice personnel trained on state and local law, there to monitor, document and report, and are not allowed to intervene.