The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) deployed approximately 1,000 election monitors across all 50 states on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The agency called it the largest monitoring effort in its history.
In Colorado, the only county on the DOJ's monitoring list is Adams County, about 20 miles north of Centennial. Arapahoe County, which includes Centennial, Greenwood Village and Cherry Hills Village, does not appear on the DOJ's list of monitored jurisdictions.
The DOJ monitors will not be inside Adams County voting centers. They will remain outside, at least 100 feet from polling locations, after the department declined restrictions set by Secretary of State Jena Griswold's office, according to Colorado Public Radio.
Griswold had required that DOJ personnel be accompanied by state-appointed observers at all times, observe only from designated areas and refrain from speaking with voters or recording inside voting centers, according to the Denver Post.
The DOJ responded in a letter: "While we appreciate your efforts to accommodate us, we will have to decline your offer. Our monitors will remain outside of polling places and not come within 100 feet of the building in accordance with Colorado state law."
Why Adams County?
DOJ spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said the department prioritizes jurisdictions required to provide language assistance under the federal Voting Rights Act, as well as areas with a shortage of election observation data, USA Today reported. Adams County has been required to provide election materials in Spanish since 2022.
Adams County Clerk and Recorder Josh Zygielbaum, a Democrat who is on the ballot himself, questioned the deployment. He manages elections for about 554,000 residents.
"We've never had any complaints. We've never had any charges filed. We've never been under investigation," Zygielbaum told USA Today. "It's almost as if they're coming here to scrutinize the voter."
Zygielbaum said the monitors headed to his polling sites are criminal prosecutors, a shift from past years when DOJ observers were civil rights experts. In 2022, under President Joe Biden, the DOJ sent monitors to 64 jurisdictions across 24 states. Zygielbaum called those attorneys "great partners" who helped ensure Spanish-language translations were available.
Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, told Colorado Newsline that the monitors "seem to be only going to Democratic jurisdictions, or mostly Democratic jurisdictions, across the country." He noted that Weld County, the other large county in the competitive 8th Congressional District, was not on the list.
State response
Griswold, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, said on Nov. 2 that voters should not be afraid. Her office hired a former DOJ official to lead contingency planning against potential election interference, Colorado Newsline reported.
Griswold's office also paired workers with attorneys from the state attorney general's office in Adams County. Congressional observers from both parties registered separately with the county clerk's office.
National picture
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement that the monitors would check compliance with federal voting rights statutes, including the Voting Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Some voting rights groups, including the NAACP, said the deployment could suppress turnout, particularly among minority voters. The NAACP filed a lawsuit alleging the DOJ "twisted the Poll Monitoring Program into a tool to pursue baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud," according to USA Today.
USA Today also reported that in states with closely contested Senate races, monitors were assigned to cities and counties with disproportionately high levels of Black and Hispanic residents, according to U.S. Census data. Monitors were not sent exclusively to such areas.
Voters who experience intimidation or harassment at polling locations can report it to local law enforcement or the DOJ's election issues hotline at 1-800-253-3931.
