The Department of Justice plans to send federal election monitors to Utah for the Nov. 3 midterm elections, raising questions about the purpose of the deployment and whether observers will be present in southern Utah.
Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, the state’s chief election officer, received notification of the deployment on Oct. 21. Salt Lake County was notified that it would have at least one federal monitor. The full list of monitoring locations has not been announced.
Henderson said she expects the election process to proceed normally but has prepared for any potential issues.
“I don’t anticipate there being any problems, but we are working with the counties to make sure that they have contingency plans in place in case something does pop up,” Henderson said.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division uses election monitoring to assess whether voting procedures comply with federal voting rights laws. Federal observers may monitor polling places and ballot-counting locations in eligible jurisdictions. Their work can help the department assess whether eligible voters can participate in elections without unlawful barriers.
The deployment comes amid a dispute between the federal government and Utah officials over access to voter registration information. Henderson has opposed releasing certain voter information to the federal government.
Federal monitors are expected to follow Utah’s rules governing poll watchers. Henderson said the monitors would not approach voters. The purpose of election monitoring is to observe election procedures, not to interfere with voters’ participation.
Author: Fangqi Zhou
Photo courtesy of Sean Higgins, KUER
Editor: Hannah Clove
news@suunews.net
