Justice Department to place 1,000 federal observers at polling places nationwide

Federal election monitors will stand at polling places across the United States on Tuesday, Nov. 3, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice. The agency plans to deploy 1,000 observers to jurisdictions in all 50 states. This deployment is the largest in recent history, expanding on a 2022 effort that sent monitors to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states.

A Justice Department spokesperson told States Newsroom that the specific list of monitored locations in Alaska will remain undisclosed until Election Day. Alaska Division of Elections officials did not respond to requests for information regarding the federal presence or whether the DOJ is currently coordinating with state staff.

The expanded monitoring effort has drawn scrutiny from civil rights groups and elections officials in other states. The NAACP filed a lawsuit this month seeking to block the program. The group argues the monitoring exceeds federal authority and violates laws against voter intimidation. The suit also aims to stop the deployment of criminal prosecutors and federal law enforcement agents alongside observers.

"Defendants have twisted the Poll Monitoring Program into a tool to pursue baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud," the NAACP's attorneys wrote in the filing.

Early voting in Alaska is already active. As of Tuesday, more than 58,000 voters cast ballots, a figure representing nearly 10% of the electorate. This total already exceeds early voting numbers from the 2022 midterms. Nationwide, 46.3 million voters had cast ballots by Thursday, according to the University of Florida’s UF Elections Lab.

Federal monitoring is a recurring feature in Alaska, particularly in rural and Alaska Native-majority regions. Monitors verify compliance with the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Help America Vote Act. In the 2024 general election, the DOJ monitored precincts in the Bethel, Dillingham, Kusilvak, and Nome census areas, as well as the North Slope and Northwest Arctic boroughs, to check language assistance requirements.

Previous federal reviews found issues with access for voters with disabilities. A DOJ investigation of 2022 and 2023 elections cited the Alaska Division of Elections for a lack of accessible machines at polling places and missing accessible features on the division’s website. Voters can report federal law violations through the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division online form or by calling the hotline at 1-888-465-5857.