Local officials question DOJ's election monitoring plan

Updated October 29, 2026, 3:06 p.m. ET

BRIGHTON, CO ‒ Josh Zygielbaum bristles at the idea that anyone could cheat in the elections he oversees.

As clerk and clerk-elect in Adams County, near Denver, Zygielbaum leads a small army of election workers who manage the midterm elections for about 554,000 residents. A retired U.S. Marine, Zygielbaum takes his oath seriously: to protect and defend the constitutions of the United States and Colorado.

That’s why the federal government’s decision to send about 1,000 Justice Department officials to polling places in every state, including those overseen by Zygielbaum, seems somehow wrong to him.

Although the Justice Department has not yet provided a complete list of locations, Zygielbaum and some of the other county clerks who have been informed to expect them note that they are in liberal-leaning areas with large Hispanic populations. Federal officials say observers will help ensure only citizens vote.

“We’ve never received any complaints. No charges have been filed. We’ve never been investigated. There’s never been any reason for the DOJ to come here and monitor,” said Zygielbaum, a Democrat who is himself on the ballot. “It’s almost like they’re coming here to canvass voters.”

Some election rights groups, including the NAACP, say the Trump administration’s decision to deploy observers could reduce turnout and disenfranchise voters, particularly those from minority groups.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said the department is prioritizing oversight jurisdictions needed to provide language assistance as well as areas experiencing a shortage of election observation data. It also focuses on places where the department has entered into a consent decree based on previous election issues, she said.

The DOJ will release a full list of counties where it will send observers early next week, Pels said.

The DOJ’s Role in Election Oversight

The Justice Department has long monitored elections, usually to ensure that people can vote, not to prevent them. In the past, the DOJ often sent civil rights experts to ensure that all legal voters could exercise their right, sometimes in communities with a history of racial discrimination.

In 2022, when the DOJ sent observers to 64 jurisdictions across 24 states, federal voting rights experts helped ensure that Zygielbaum’s office made Spanish translations available to everyone who needed them. These attorneys, Zygielbaum said, “were great partners.”

But this new effort?

“There is concern that they are looking to create some sort of criminal proceeding against my office or against me,” Zygielbaum said.

This summer, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division sent letters to election officials in every state, threatening legal action if they knowingly allowed noncitizens to vote or remain registered to vote. President Donald Trump has claimed for years, without evidence, that non-citizen voting is “endemic” and contributed to his 2020 election defeat.

In an October 26 social media post, Trump promised a $1 million reward to anyone who provides information leading to the “arrest and conviction” of people who committed election fraud.

The U.S. Constitution largely gives states control over election administration, meaning the rules for poll watchers can differ by state and even by county. Federal observers are generally only allowed into polling or vote-counting locations with permission from state and local officials.

Justice Department observers face retaliation

In Wyoming, Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee expects Justice Department lawyers to make an appearance on Election Day. Like Adams County in Colorado, Laramie has a higher percentage of Hispanic residents than its state.

Lee, a Republican, said federal observers have agreed to wear county-issued ID badges and must stay at least 100 feet from polling places if they want to interview voters.

“We are committed to following Wyoming law and protecting the rights of our citizens to vote privately, securely and without disruption or interference,” she said in a statement.

No federal observers had monitored voting in Wyoming in at least 40 years, state officials said, noting their appearance during the August primary in Laramie. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, called their appearance “irregular” and “a little aggressive” at the time. Gordon called for an investigation into the DOJ observers, saying they acted aggressively and asked to inspect voting machines during the primary.

While Justice Department observers previously were largely civil rights experts, this year the agency expanded the pool of participants. Zygielbaum said he was told the observers who went to his polling places were criminal prosecutors.

On Election Day, Pels said, all observers will be members of the Department of Justice trained in state and local laws, and will be there to monitor, document and report on compliance with federal election laws. They are not allowed to intervene to ensure compliance with federal law, she said.

Pels said that if observers discover evidence of non-citizens voting during their surveillance, “we will use it. But our observers will not ask voters about their citizenship status during elections.”

The NAACP sued to end the Justice Department’s monitoring of elections this year, arguing it was a thinly veiled attempt at voter intimidation. The NAACP was founded in 1909 in part to ensure that black voters could participate in elections without fear of violence. In its lawsuit, the NAACP said the Justice Department lacks authority to enforce voting rules at the state and county level, including verifying that voters are citizens.

“Defendants transformed the poll monitoring program into a tool to pursue baseless claims of widespread voter fraud,” the NAACP wrote in its lawsuit. “Defendants’ focus on alleged voter fraud, combined with their first-time use of criminal prosecutors and the unprecedented scale of their deployment, is intimidating to voters, who reasonably fear facing unwarranted surveillance, investigation or prosecution for exercising their right to vote.”

County election officials in several states said they haven’t received much information about why they were singled out for increased scrutiny.

“We have not been informed of who or what motivated this unique status,” said Kate Sweeney Bell, clerk of Marion County, Indiana. “We were not told what criteria were used to make this decision.”

“Just because you lost doesn’t mean the other side cheated.”

Federal monitors are commonplace in some major cities and states, and several officials said they had no problem with the additional surveillance but would keep a close eye on them.

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said in a statement that he welcomed the observers, “but let’s be clear: It is not legal for these observers or anyone else to interfere with Oregon’s elections – even the Department of Justice. We are ready. We will follow the law and we will ensure that the Department of Justice does the same.”

Trump’s claims that election results cannot be trusted unless Republicans already win have prompted dozens of nonpartisan and partisan groups to monitor voting sites across the country in case the administration challenges the results. On Oct. 27, when asked if he would respect the election results regardless of the outcome, Trump responded, “I will, if it’s an honest election.”

To some election officials, that sounds like a threat.

Zygielbaum said he wants Americans to know that elections are secure and trustworthy, and that they are usually run by their own neighbors working as election judges. Without naming Trump, Zygielbaum said election critics only seem to cry foul when they lose.

“I would like the public to assume that we have the best intentions, because we do. And it’s not just here in Adams County, but across the country,” he said. “Whoever wins in the end is whoever wins in the end. I’m on the ballot again this year, and if I lose, it’s the will of the people. That’s how things are supposed to be. Just because you lost doesn’t mean the other side cheated.”

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