U.S. Justice Department to monitor polling places in 27 states, including six Virginia localities
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The U.S. Department of Justice plans to monitor compliance with federal voting laws in 27 states and 86 jurisdictions nationwide during Tuesday’s general elections. Six of those are in Virginia: Hanover, Henrico, Loudoun, and Prince William counties as well as the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
This means that personnel from the department’s Civil Rights Division “will be available all day to receive questions and complaints … related to possible violations of federal voting rights laws,” according to a Nov. 1 DOJ news release. The agency will also “maintain contact with state and local election officials” throughout Election Day.
Henrico’s registrar Mark Coakley said that representatives from the DOJ had reached out late last week to inform his office that officials “would be coming by.”
“They didn’t say (which specific polling places) they were going, just Henrico in general,” he said in a call on Monday. “I expect the DOJ will spend more time at the malls or eating at local restaurants than actually finding anything wrong or out of the ordinary at our polling places.”
The department is monitoring complaints for possible violations of several laws including the Voting Rights Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, Civil Rights Acts, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the National Voter Registration Act.
The latter was central to two lawsuits last month aimed at Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration for a voter purge program that has removed at least 1,600 people from Virginia voter rolls. A DOJ suit and one from Virginia’s League of Women Voters and Virginia Coalition for Immigrants Rights allege roll purges were happening too close to election day in violation of a 90-day quiet period in the National Voter Registration Act.
When people fail to indicate citizenship status on Department of Motor Vehicles paperwork, that information is sent monthly to the Department of Elections to send to local registrars, who sort it out with people. But an Aug. 5 executive order from Youngkin — at the start of the 90-day quiet period — ramped up the reporting from monthly to daily.
Plaintiffs in the case and civil rights groups stressed that the purges affect both longtime citizens who’d made paperwork errors as well as people who’d become naturalized citizens since their last DMV visit.
After a federal court granted a preliminary injunction — ordering Youngkin’s administration to reinstate purged 1,600 voters and halt continued purges — the United States Supreme Court’s conservative majority granted Virginia Attorney General Jason Miayres’ request to block the lower court’s order.
Additional guidance from the DOJ:
For reports of potential violation of federal voting rights laws, reports may be made through the department’s website civilrights.justice.gov or by calling toll-free at 800-253-3931.
Complaints related to disruptions should be reported to local election officials. Complaints related to violence, threats or violence or intimidation at a polling place should be reported to local police and also reported to the DOJ after local authorities have been contacted.
This article first appeared on Virginia Mercury and is republished here with permission. Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence.
