DOJ sending election monitors to WA’s King County

It’s unclear what role federal election monitors will play or how many there will be in King County on Election Day.

The U.S. Department of Justice informed King County Elections Director Julie Wise this week that the administration is sending election monitors for the Nov. 3 midterms. 

“As the Civil Rights Division has done in the past, our monitors only observe,” the Justice Department’s Anelise Powers wrote in an email to Wise. “They do not intrude or interfere in any way in the voting process.”

Unlike other states with polling places, Washington has long voted by mail, a system that has faced allegations and legal threats from President Donald Trump. Voting commenced last week ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Voters can vote in person at their county election center, but almost all ballots are returned via drop box or the mail. 

The monitors will look for compliance with federal voting rights and disability access laws. The Trump administration has also used voting laws, including the National Voter Registration Act and Help America Vote Act, as legal backing in its push for the state’s sensitive voter data, one of several flashpoints between the state and federal government over elections this year. A judge tossed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking this data.

Trump has repeatedly espoused claims of rampant fraud, and critics fear the monitors could use those false allegations to interfere in elections, which are run by states.

The Department of Justice described the actions it’ll take in Washington’s most populous county and elsewhere as “routine election monitoring the department has done for decades.”

“All monitors must meet the same legal and ethical requirements, including that they not interfere with the voting process,” spokesperson Kiersten Pels said in an email Friday. “Every monitor has the same role: observe for potential violations of federal law and report concerns to the Department, which the Department will review after Election Day and act where appropriate.”

But Halei Watkins, spokesperson for King County Elections, said in her seven-plus years there, the county has “never been sent a monitor from the Department of Justice.”

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’s office said the Department of Justice has sent elections observers to Washington in the past. 

“We’re unaware of any issues stemming from their presence,” spokesperson Stefanie Randolph said in an email.

All observers — private citizens, or those affiliated with political parties and government agencies — have to abide by state law, she said.

“They may not touch ballots, voting equipment, tabulation machines or interfere with voting,” Randolph added. “County auditors have the authority to remove anyone who does not follow these rules from the premises.”

Washington is one of at least 10 states where it’s been reported that a county received a similar notification. Oregon’s Multnomah County, which covers Portland, is another. Pels said the Justice Department will have monitors in every state.

Monitors were also deployed during this year’s primary elections, with few reported issues. In Wyoming, however, Republican Gov. Mark Gordon was concerned the monitors were “aggressive” and “irregular.” Justice Department officials contested Gordon’s characterization.

Harmeet Dhillon, head of the federal agency’s Civil Rights Division, said last month that Department of Justice planned to send 1,000 monitors nationwide, which she called the “largest monitoring effort” ever.

In 2022, the department under then-President Joe Biden sent monitors to 64 locales in 24 states for those midterms, but none to Washington.