The U.S. Department of Justice says it will monitor polling sites in Passaic County, New Jersey, after Republicans raised concerns that local elections officials were not providing enough security for mail-in ballots.
The DOJ announced Friday that staff from its Civil Rights Division will be deployed to the North Jersey county for the Nov. 4 election. Passaic has a dense immigrant population and was reliably Democratic until President Donald Trump won the county by 3 points last year. U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said the department’s goal is to uphold “the highest standards of election integrity” and to ensure a fair and transparent process.
New Jersey Republicans pushed to add cameras and sign-in logs for mail-in ballot storage areas — measures it says are already in use in nearby counties like Bergen and Essex. Passaic officials rebuffed the request. In a letter to the Justice Department, a GOP lawyer said federal monitors were necessary to “ensure the integrity of the voting process.”
Republican Jack Ciattarelli, an ally of former President Donald Trump, is in a tight race for governor against Democrat Mikie Sherrill, according to polls.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin issued a statement criticizing the federal deployment, calling it “highly inappropriate” and saying the DOJ “has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions.”
The Passaic elections board did not immediately provide comment Saturday. Gothamist reported last week that Democrats were outperforming Republicans on mail-in ballots by nearly 3 to 1.
The DOJ said it will also send monitoring teams to several counties in Southern and Central California, including Los Angeles County, following similar requests from Republican officials there.
The department said staff would be available to field questions and complaints from the public about potential voting rights violations through Election Day.
Ryan Kost
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