Trump DOJ blindsides states with federal deployment decried as ‘intimidation’: report

State officials are scrambling after the Justice Department quietly launched a plan one local official fears is designed to intimidate.

The DOJ this week began alerting counties in Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Texas and Washington that it intends to send federal monitors to watch their elections, NPR reported Wednesday. In past cycles, state officials learned of such plans alongside the counties, but this time states weren't initially told, officials in three states said, and some only received notice after NPR asked the DOJ about it.

Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said last month that the department would dispatch 1,000 observers across the country in what she called "the largest monitoring effort" in the agency's history. A DOJ spokesperson, Kiersten Pels, told NPR that the full list of jurisdictions would be released "closer to the election."

The DOJ routinely watches elections, sending monitors to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states during the 2022 midterms under former President Joe Biden. But experts have warned that the Trump administration, fueled by Trump's false claims about the 2020 election, could use the effort as cover to interfere with vote counting or seize ballots.

One of the counties on the list is Adams County, Colorado, which covers part of a toss-up congressional district that could help decide control of the House. Its clerk, Democrat Josh Zygielbaum, told NPR he was surprised the DOJ contacted him but not the Republican clerk in neighboring Weld County, which also covers a large share of the district.

"My initial thought is that it's politically motivated, and that this is potentially an intimidation technique," Zygielbaum said.

Pels said the DOJ focuses on competitive races and chose Adams County because it falls under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which guarantees voters election materials in their own language. Weld County is not covered by that provision, NPR noted.