Trump DOJ to target Democratic strongholds for election monitoring: ‘The more eyes on elections’ the better

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to target Democratic states and counties with a program of federal election monitoring for the primaries, according to new details released Wednesday by a top DOJ official. 

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, also said the program will expand ‘significantly’ for the general election, and encouraged ordinary citizens to monitor the polls, too.

Dhillon’s comments, which came in an interview Wednesday with a conservative talk show host, provide new specifics after DOJ announced Tuesday that it would deploy election monitors to six states: Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Virginia. All except New Hampshire have Democratic governors and chief election officials.

They also come one day after the department sent letters to election officials in all 50 states and Washington D.C. warning they could face criminal prosecution over possible noncitizen voting.

In her Wednesday comments, Dhillon added further detail, identifying many of the jurisdictions to receive monitoring. She named Boston, Maricopa County, Fairfax County, Detroit, Ramsey County, Prince William County, Lansing, East Lansing, Hennepin County, New Bedford, Nashua, Manchester, Apache County and Pima County.

In a separate interview, Dhillon also included Hamtramck, Michigan.

That list includes key Democratic strongholds like Phoenix, Tucson, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, all of which have large minority populations. 

The department also has told officials in Detroit, another Democratic stronghold, that it plans to send monitors there, Democracy Docket reported Tuesday. 

Dhillon framed the monitoring as routine, saying DOJ has monitored elections under both Republican and Democratic administrations. She said the department is targeting places “where there have been problems with the integrity of elections,” including alleged poll worker errors, wrong poll books, incorrect ballots, language access issues and voters being denied access.

But Dhillon also tied the monitors to the Trump administration’s broader voter roll crusade and false claims of widespread “illegal” voting.

“If one person votes illegally and cancels out my vote I think that’s pretty significant,” Dhillon said. “So ground one is like, let’s just look at the voter rolls and help these states clean them up.”

Dhillon said DOJ is working with other federal agencies and using the SAVE database, a federal immigration database the administration has sought to use for voter eligibility checks. That effort has already triggered litigation and conflicting court orders.

“We have these judges going off and doing their own thing and so that causes confusion,” Dhillon said. “But our DOJ and our civil division appellate divisions here are working around the clock to correct these mistakes by appealing them up to the higher courts.”

She also made clear that DOJ’s monitoring effort will grow substantially before November.

“We are going to significantly expand our efforts in that regard and make sure there are vote monitors everywhere we think we need them on behalf of the Department of Justice,” Dhillon said.

Dhillon added that DOJ encourages “private parties and the political parties” to monitor elections too, saying “the more eyes on elections” the better.

The comments mark the latest escalation in Trump DOJ’s election-year pressure campaign. After losing every voter roll case so far, the department is now pairing threats to election officials with a growing federal monitoring operation in key jurisdictions.