DOJ sends federal election watchers to California for redistricting special election

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said that it plans to send federal poll watchers to California for its highly scrutinized election next month.

 On the ballot in California is a measure that would bypass the state’s independent committee to redraw congressional maps in order to add five Democrat seats before the 2026 election.

In response to Texas redrawing district maps this year, California Governor Gavin Newsom launched a campaign for Prop 50, in which Californians will vote on whether the state will redraw its congressional boundaries to cancel out Texas’s five new GOP seats in Congress.

“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

She added that the goal of the election observers in Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside and Fresno counties in California is to “ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”

California Republicans have reportedly requested federal observers in the state.

“In recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election,” California GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin wrote in a letter on Monday to Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“The Department of Justice will do everything necessary to protect the votes of eligible American citizens, ensuring our elections are safe and secure,” Dhillon said in a statement. “Transparent election processes and election monitoring are critical tools for safeguarding our elections and ensuring public trust in the integrity of our elections.”

Newsom condemned the extra security ahead of the election.

“They will not be allowed to access the back rooms, and watch this — they will then express discontent with that,” Newsom speculated. “They will then suggest after we win, because we will and we must, that somehow the election was fraudulent.”

Newsom’s office also wrote on X, “This is not a federal election. The US DOJ has no business or basis to interfere with the election. This is solely about whether California amends our state constitution. This administration has made no secret of its goal to undermine free and fair elections. Deploying these federal forces appears to be an intimidation tactic meant for one thing: suppress the vote.”

“The presence of election observers is not unusual and is a standard practice across the country,” Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk Dean Logan said in a statement. “Federal election monitors, like all election observers, are welcome to view election activities at designated locations to confirm transparency and integrity in the election process. California has very clear laws and guidelines that support observation and prohibit election interference.”

The DOJ under the Biden administration announced the federal government would monitor jurisdictions across 27 states in the 2024 election, in fact, including San Joaquin County, California.

California’s election day is November 4^th.