The Department of Justice just made history, deploying election monitors in all 50 states for the very first time as midterm voters head to the polls. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon called it “the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history,” and if that makes Democrats nervous, well, good.
Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division has had the authority to send monitors since the Civil Rights Act of 1965, but deployments were always limited and targeted. This time, every single state gets a set of eyes, with personnel from DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management all taking part. “Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division,” Dhillon said. I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner.
Senate Democrats, of course, were not about to let something this reasonable go unprotested. Back in August, Sens. Alex Padilla of California and Mark Warner of Virginia rounded up their colleagues to send a strongly worded letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, worried sick about federal monitors doing federal monitoring. DOJ election monitor deployment They assured everyone that “U.S. elections are safe, secure, and fair,” and warned that monitors must not “interfere” with how states run things. Nothing says confidence in your election system like writing a panicked letter begging the feds to look away.
While Democrats were busy writing letters, the DOJ was busy charging actual criminals. On Monday, the department announced charges against 63 people for election-related crimes, including illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration, and false claims of U.S. citizenship. Four of those charged were illegal immigrants. Attorney General Blanche put it plainly: “These foreign nationals allegedly took advantage of the trust of the American people and flouted the laws that govern our nation’s elections. This Department of Justice will continue investigating and prosecuting voter fraud to restore confidence in our electoral system.”
Since Trump’s second term began, the DOJ has charged 239 people with election fraud-related crimes, according to the department. That’s not a witch hunt. That’s a track record.
Expect Democrats to keep insisting there’s nothing to see here, right up until someone shows them exactly what there is to see. Elections have consequences, and apparently so does actually enforcing the law.
