DOJ is sending election monitors to Utah polls this November

The U.S. Department of Justice is sending election monitors to Utah polls to oversee the Nov. 3 elections, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson learned on Wednesday. The move comes amid pressure from the agency as Henderson, Utah’s chief election officer, refuses to release private voter data to the federal government. 

The Department of Justice has sent election monitors to other states before on a smaller scale, usually in response to a civil rights violation. In Utah, the agency sent monitors to supervise elections in San Juan County in 2024. But, Henderson anticipates their presence won’t interfere with the election, and voters may not even notice their presence, she told reporters on Thursday.

“We’re not really sure what to expect, except that they did give us some assurances that I think are good. They won’t be approaching voters. They won’t be wearing any sort of insignia. They have said that they will give us any feedback after the election is over on any challenges or issues that they saw,” Henderson said. “So I think things will be pretty normal. I want to make sure voters are calm and know that things are going to be OK.”

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Some details about the monitors’ deployment in the state are still unavailable. Henderson said she’s unaware of how many are coming or to which locations they will be sent; however, Salt Lake County has been notified it will receive at least one. Henderson is expecting to learn more about the monitors in a meeting before Election Day.

Henderson is uncertain about why the DOJ is sending the monitors to Utah. While she’s been threatened with criminal prosecution over voters’ data, she said the department is also sending monitors to states that aren’t involved in election litigation.

“I welcome any kind of scrutiny that the administration wants to give to the state of Utah. I am confident in our processes, and you know what? If they uncover some sort of problem, if we’re violating someone’s civil rights in some way, I absolutely want to know about it. We rely on people to tell us when there are problems. We can’t be everywhere in the state,” she said. “So, if any problems are found, we absolutely will be grateful for that information and look into it and correct it if we can.”

Monitors are mandated to only observe and take notes, Jake Bachand, an attorney at the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said in a letter to the lieutenant governor. They will dress in business casual clothing and won’t be allowed to use any DOJ identifiers. They aren’t allowed to talk to voters inside polling places or to carry firearms.

The goal, according to the letter, is to monitor for compliance with federal voting rights laws, including people with disabilities’ access to the ballot box, among other civil rights assurances. 

“I think that they are looking just overall how the elections are being run to make sure everything’s on the up and up,” Henderson said. “You know what? They are in Utah. We have open processes. The public can go watch any of these processes. So, frankly, I welcome that. I welcome people looking and examining. What I don’t welcome is any kind of interference.”  

While Henderson’s office will keep an eye on the deployment, Utah is not planning on following Minnesota’s lead to have state monitors to supervise federal monitors. 

“What we have done is given our county clerks and the public very specific instructions on what to do and how to do it. So we have laws that pertain to any kind of election monitor, and those laws apply to these federal monitors as well,” Henderson said. “So we’re making sure everybody’s aware of what those laws are.” 

Henderson encouraged voters who are worried about going to an in-person polling location to submit their ballots at a drop box ahead of Election Day. 

“I encourage the more people do that, the better. Because honestly, if we have more people voting early and getting those ballots processed early, we’ll have more robust results on election night anyway. So vote early,” she said.