Federal election watchers head to California for Prop. 50

from Maya S. MillerCalMatters

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

The Trump administration’s Justice Department will deploy election observers to five California counties on Election Day, the department announced Friday, in what it described as an effort to “ensure transparency, ballot security and compliance with federal law.”

The news comes as voters are already casting their ballots Proposition 50manager Gavin Newsomthe proposal to redraw state congressional districts in favor of Democrats. Early in-person voting is set to begin this weekend in many counties.

Federal personnel from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will be sent to Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. Mother Dylanformer vice chairman of the California Republican Party and chairman of the Republican National Committee, leads the division.

It is unclear whether federal observers will be on site during early in-person voting or only on Nov. 4. The Justice Department did not say whether observers would be stationed at polling places in addition to county election offices.

A department spokesman did not respond to an emailed request for comment in time for publication.

The request for election observers came from the California Republican Party, the Associated Press reports. Chairman Corinne Rankin wrote a letter to Dillon’s office on Monday, according to the AP. A spokesman for the state party did not respond to multiple requests for comment via email and text message.

Election observers are not uncommon, and both parties regularly deploy observers to ensure that polling places follow state and federal election laws.

So does the Department of Justice has a long history of surveillance jurisdictions that have records of civil rights violations. In November last year, leaders in some Republican states denied Biden administration Justice Department staff entering some polling stations.

“It’s perfectly normal for the California Republican Party to demand election integrity resources wherever they are available,” said Brian Watkins, a former senior adviser to the state party and its former chair Jessica Milan Patterson.

Watkins said the state GOP during his tenure has welcomed poll monitors from the House Administrative Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Convention.

“If federal oversight gives voters confidence that their ballots will be secure and counted, I fully support it,” Milan Patterson said in a statement. Now she’s campaigning against Newsom’s Prop. 50.

California Democrats immediately denounced the request as weaponizing the Justice Department against the state’s voters.

“No election interference by the California Republican Party will silence the voices of California voters,” Rusty Hicks, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we’ve come to expect it from a so-called party that operates more like a Trump fan club.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.