Federal election monitors swarm California to face off with Democrat watchers as voting war turns toxic

Federal officials and Democratic groups will descend upon California in the coming days to monitor the state’s elections amid an intensifying partisan feud over voting.

The Department of Justice plans to deploy 1,000 election monitors across the country, including in California, for “routine election monitoring the department has done for decades,” per a spokesperson, as partisan and third-party groups ready volunteer armies to keep watch on polling places.

“We will have around 1,000 monitors in counties throughout the United States, but we will not share the full list until Election Day. Every monitor will merely observe and report any potential violations of federal law to the Department, which will be reviewed after Election Day,” the DOJ spokesperson said.

A collection of watchdog groups and political volunteers are also planning to deploy poll watchers in what could amount to unprecedented scrutiny on the midterm elections.

Among those are the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee, both of which are helping to train poll monitors, according to Associated Press.

Jane Kleeb, vice chair of the DNC, told the outlet it’s tapped former intelligence officials to monitor online misinformation around the election.

“We’ve never done this before,” Kleeb said.

But “we’ve never had to deal with the president of the United States saying that he may seize ballots, put ICE agents outside polling locations and other kinds of very clear direct threats to the voting process.”

The California Democratic Party’s Voter Protection Team is recruiting poll watchers and volunteer attorneys to monitor the Nov. 3 election, according to its website. State Democratic parties have roughly 10,000 volunteers to observe polling places and report potentially concerning actions by federal agents, per AP.

Likewise, the The Republican National Committee said it plans to deploy “election integrity deputy state directors” in 22 states, among them Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina.

It’s hired 22,000 poll workers and is recruiting poll watchers for competitive districts, according to Ally Triolo, the RNC’s election integrity communications director. 

Common cause, a Washington DC-based pro-democracy group, is among the nonprofit watchdog groups planning to send volunteers to polling places, including in California.

“At voting locations across the state, our volunteers will check for language and disability access, assist any voters who are encountering problems, and monitor to help ensure that voter harassment and disenfranchisement do not occur,” Common Cause wrote in a post about the California volunteer effort.

Common Cause has roughly 16,000 more volunteers to watch voting precincts, Suzanne Almeida, vice president of states for the group, told Associated Press. A broader coalition involving 300 other groups has trained tens of thousands more, she said.

Dem-aligned nonprofits Indivisible and MoveOn are activating their networks for the midterm elections, AP reported. Smaller groups of volunteers, including roughly 100 organized by Senate Democrats and hundreds more from Dem-allied group Save America, which is training clergy members, veterans, teachers and other, are also planning a presence on Election Day.

The potentially unprecedented election monitoring push comes amid a legal battle between California and federal officials over claims of voter fraud.

The Justice Department sued California this months seeking to block 20,000 ballots it claims were sent to noncitizens ahead of the midterm elections.

Federal agents arrested and charged California residents for allegedly registering to vote illegally or casting illegal ballots. More than two-dozen suspects arrested in a statewide bust last week have been charged.

California officials, including Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Attorney General Rob Bonta have strongly pushed back on allegations of widespread voter fraud in the state, with Bonta calling any cases of noncitizen voting “one-offs” that don’t reflect a systemic problem.

At a rare Sunday hearing, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel appeared skeptical of the DOJ’s request to set aside thousands of ballots in California.

The court indicated it will issue a decision quickly.

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