Federal election monitors won’t enter Indiana polling sites, officials say

Two-dozen federal Department of Justice monitors will observe Election Day voting in two Indiana counties from outside the polling locations, election officials said Wednesday.

Up to 12 are expected to come to central Indiana’s Marion County, with another dozen going to Lake County near Chicago — heavily blue areas that host the state’s only Democratic representatives in Congress.

Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell said the observers will remain at least 50 feet from the entrance to the polls, just like people passing out campaign literature. This banned zone is the “chute.”

“Outside of every vote center or early vote center, there is a placard that is affixed either to the wall, to a window, to a stake outside that says ‘No campaigning beyond this point,’” she said. “… Well, same with federal election monitors. You can’t do anything past this point.”

She and Marion County Election Board attorneys spoke with DOJ representatives on Wednesday over the phone after receiving written notice last week of the impending visit.

That physical separation is in line with the Indiana Election Division’s take.

“Their default position is to remain outside and not enter the voting location unless state law otherwise permits their entry. In our agency’s view, our state law does not give federal monitors access to enter any voting location,” an Indiana Election Division official said.

Lake County’s Election Board didn’t respond to a request for comment by publication time.

The DOJ has for decades deployed monitors across the country to watch the voting process.

But its plans to dispatch 1,000 observers to all 50 states are more ambitious than usual: just 289 were sent out for the 2022 midterms, and 714 for the 2024 presidential election, CBS News has reported.

Questioning to center on voting rights laws

Sweeney Bell said she was told the monitors in Indianapolis will work in teams of two, visiting an expected six or seven of the city’s 182 vote centers.

The monitors will be in plain clothes, not DOJ uniforms, according to Sweeney Bell and the Indiana Election Division. They won’t be law enforcement officers and they won’t be carrying firearms.

Not all of them actually work for DOJ; the agency’s Civil Rights Division is also using observers from other federal entities. But all will have temporary credentials from DOJ, according to Sweeney Bell.

They are supposed to provide that ID upon request.

DOJ representatives indicated the observers would be interested in polling accessibility, as part of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and provisional ballots, as related to the Help America Vote Act.

They also emphasized language assistance required in certain jurisdictions by the Voting Rights Act, Sweeney Bell recounted. But neither county is subject to that mandate.

She said they did not mention alleged noncitizen voting.

That’s despite an emphasis on election security from other Hoosier officials cheering on the DOJ.

Attorney General Todd Rokita said he “welcome(s)” the agency’s decision, citing the charges his office has filed against an alleged noncitizen accused of voting illegally in Indiana elections.

“It does happen, and we know there are more out there. That’s why it’s critical to ensure the laws are being followed,” Rokita said in a Monday news release. “Federal monitors who observe and report simply add another layer of accountability to the work our great state already does to protect the integrity of every legal vote.”

Asked why the DOJ selected Marion and Lake Counties for monitoring, and if observers have previously been sent to Indiana, the agency repurposed a statement it appears to be using nationally:

“We will be in all 50 states, including Indiana, doing the routine election monitoring the department has done for decades. All monitors must meet the same legal and ethical requirements, including that they not interfere with the voting process,” the statement reads. “Every monitor has the same role: observe for potential violations of federal law and report concerns to the Department, which the Department will review after Election Day and act where appropriate.”

Sweeney Bell said she is encouraging everyone to follow the rule of law.

“They’ve got a right to be there, just as our voters have a right to vote free from harassment, intimidation, or any sort of coercion,” she said. “So I’m not going to say the sky is falling until I see it with my own eyes.”