Trump Deploys Election Monitors to Battleground Polling Places

Election Day has finally arrived. Americans are headed to the polls, and that means the Trump administration is preparing ways to  cast doubt on any unfavorable results. 

The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that it is deploying 1,000 federal “election monitors” to polling places around the country. The monitors will be sent to critical races across all 50 states, including Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Maine, Iowa, and Minnesota. The mobilization comes as Republicans are expected to lose control of the House of Representatives, and may also be stripped of their Senate majority. 

According to a press release issued by the DOJ, monitors will include personnel from the DOJ Civil Rights Division — headed by longtime Trump ally and conservative operative Harmeet Dhillon — as well as “other DOJ divisions/components, U.S. Attorney’s Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management.” 

“Throughout Election Day, Division personnel will maintain contact with state and local election officials,” Dhillon wrote. The announcement contained a tip line where individuals could report suspected violations of election law. 

Local outlets, including NBC Connecticut, have reported that the federal monitors will not be identified as members of the DOJ or law enforcement, and will be at polling places in plain clothes. Journalists have also pointed out that many of the districts and counties where the monitors will be deployed lean heavily Democratic, or represent the bluest strongholds in states across the political spectrum. 

In the run up to Election Day, Trump has already begun lobbing accusations of fraud in critical races. The president said in October that he would respect the results of the election … as long as he felt that they were “honest.” Trump has, of course, never encountered a Democratic victory he considered “honest.” 

The administration has accused Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola of fraud — and demanded she be removed from the race — after reports that her campaign recruited a candidate with the same name as Republican Dan Sullivan to run as a ballot spoiler. 

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“I don’t think Mary Peltola, after perpetrating such a terrible scheme, should be allowed to run, because this is ELECTION FRAUD,” Trump wrote last week on Truth Social. “She shouldn’t be allowed to run, and neither should the FAKE Dan Sullivan!” On Monday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from the administration attempting to caveat the certification of election results in the state should Sullivan lose. The president also claimed that election fraud was already taking place in Los Angeles, a Democratic stronghold. Trump took the opportunity to once again complain about the 2020 election, and his many failed judicial attempts to meddle with that election. 

With history as a guide, it’s not unreasonable to expect that the administration will attempt to challenge midterm results it doesn’t like — they’ve been preparing for years to do so. But if polls ahead of the midterms are to be believed, it seems the vast majority of Americans may be tired of the GOP’s antics.