The Department of Justice will send over 500 election monitors to 28 states to help ensure federal voting rights are enforced in 67 jurisdictions. Compared to 2012, there are fewer monitors to go around, and more states and jurisdictions are being covered. During the last presidential election, the Justice Department sent 780 monitors to 51 jurisdictions and 23 states.
The sharp decrease follows the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby v. Holder, which struck down a pivotal section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Section 4(b) had allowed the Justice Department to monitor jurisdictions that had a history of discrimination. However, the 2013 ruling significantly limited the Department’s power.
The Department declined to share how many people will be monitors and how many will be observers. Observers are typically stationed inside polling sites and have more power than monitors. Observers also had the power to have poll officials removed if they were engaging in discrimination against voters.
