On July 7, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will send election monitors to 15 jurisdictions across Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Virginia during upcoming primary elections. DOJ election monitors are employees of the DOJ who are sent to monitor polling places on Election Day to help assess compliance with federal law.
The election monitor program is a long-running effort by the DOJ to monitor compliance with federal civil and voting rights laws, and this program generally has proceeded without incident during past elections.
While AAG Dhillon cited typical reasons for deploying election monitors, she also invoked false and disproven theories questioning election security and suggested that the monitors would ensure no citizen’s vote would be canceled out by someone who “should not be voting.”
AAG Dhillon also announced that the DOJ would unveil an “expanded” program for the November 2026 election. This announcement came shortly after the DOJ sent unprecedented letters to all 50 states and Washington, D.C. threatening election officials with potential criminal charges over alleged noncitizen voting, heightening concerns about possible abuse of the DOJ to interfere with the democratic process.
In response to these concerns, Campaign Legal Center created explainers for voters, grassroots partners, and state and local election officials to help them better understand the DOJ’s election monitor program, the authority of these monitors, and the applicable scope of and limitations on monitoring efforts.
Campaign Legal Center also recommends Congress enact reforms to the federal observer programs that would increase transparency, clarify that their role is confined to monitoring and documenting compliance with federal law, and establish a clear, enforceable standard of conduct, while providing for swift removal of observers who violate it.
Federal and state law, as well as norms that have governed the program for decades, create meaningful constraints on DOJ monitors’ conduct, but additional federal legislation is needed to ensure voters can cast their ballots safely and securely. If enacted, such reforms would allow Americans to benefit from the power of federal election observation, which for decades played an important role in protecting voting rights, without fear of overreach or intimidation. They would help protect election administration and promote public confidence at a time when restoring trust in democracy is of the utmost importance.