The Justice Department is expanding where it will monitor on Election Day

The Justice Department will monitor elections in 86 jurisdictions nationwide on Tuesday, nearly doubling the number of precincts this presidential election cycle and adding locations in key states that will decide the race.

Department officials were regularly used to monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws on Election Day to ensure access to ballots. US government officials conducted monitors for 44 jurisdictions during the 2020 general election.

The contested presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump has raised issues including voter intimidation, threats against poll workers and Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

Local jurisdictions on the 2024 list range from critical areas like Philadelphia and Allegheny counties in the swing state of Pennsylvania to far-flung locations like the Northwest Arc District of Alaska. Jurisdictions in the seven major swing states appear on the watch list, including Fulton County, Georgia, which was the subject of false claims of voter fraud by Trump after the 2020 presidential election.

Federal voting rights monitoring on Tuesday will also take place in the Atlanta-area jurisdictions of Cobb County, DeKalb County and Gwinnett County. Both Cobb and DeKalb counties had no federal monitors in 2020, while Fulton and Gwinnett did.

Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said in a news release Friday that “free and fair elections are essential to our nation’s democracy.”

“Every eligible voter has the right to vote without fear of intimidation, interference or discrimination,” Buchanan said. “Our office will devote the necessary resources to ensure that this fundamental right is protected for all voters.”

The department also added more jurisdictions in other swing states this presidential cycle, including Arizona, which will now have monitoring in Apache, Pima and Yuma and Maricopa counties. There are also plans to monitor Clark County in Nevada, which covers Las Vegas.

The push fits with the Justice Department’s broader efforts to protect the integrity of the 2024 election, which includes prosecuting threats related to elections and exposing foreign schemes to swing Americans’ Perspectives on the Election.

Efforts to monitor the federal election have faced resistance from officials in some Republican-leaning states.

The Washington Post reported that Republican leaders in Missouri and Florida have said DOJ officials will likely be rebuffed if they seek access to polling places for this year’s elections.

Claire Woodall, the former executive director of the Milwaukee City Election Commission, said Friday during a press conference with other former election officials that the city had a case in 2022 of Republican observers harassing Justice Department monitors outside at the polling place and in the parking lot. lot.

Federal monitors, she said, are “extremely helpful” as auditors. Monitors will contact election administrators if they see a point of concern on the ground, whether it’s voter intimidation or a lack of bilingual workers at a particular location, she said.

“Unfortunately, they’ve been politicized” in recent years, Woodall said of the monitors.