U.S. Department of Justice monitors election in Kanawha County

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice are monitoring the midterm election at precincts in Kanawha County on Tuesday.

Donald Kersey, chief of staff for the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office, said the federal government notified the office last week that six election monitors would be in Charleston Tuesday. 

The DOJ did not disclose which polling locations they planned to observe, but based on reports they are roving around the city rather than observing a single polling place all day, Kersey said. 

The Department of Justice said in a statement Tuesday it was sending approximately 1,000 election monitors to all 50 states for the first time ever to check for compliance with federal voting rights statutes. 

Monitors are coordinated by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and include personnel from the Civil Rights Division, other DOJ divisions and components, U.S. Attorney’s Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, the statement said.

“Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice said in a statement. “I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner.”

In a social media post Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia noted that “federal election monitors are routinely sent to polling places.” 

“It’s also important to note that monitors may NOT interfere with your right to vote in any way,” the organization said. 

The ACLU advised voters to contact its Election Protection Hotline at 304-355-5123 to report election interference.