On Monday, one day before Election Day, the Biden administration’s Justice Department announced it was sending monitors from its Civil Rights Division to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states in order to “monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws.”
The DOJ also alerted Americans that if they had complaints about “possible violations of the federal voting rights laws” they could contact the Civil Rights Division through its call center.
“Complaints related to disruption at a polling place should always be reported immediately to local election officials (including officials in the polling place),” the DOJ states. “Complaints related to violence, threats of violence or intimidation at a polling place should be reported immediately to local police authorities by calling 911.”
States targeted by the DOJ include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Harnett County, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
In 2020, the DOJ sent out monitors, but they only were sent to 44 jurisdictions, 20 less than this year, The Washington Post reported.
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre warned Americans that they might not know the winners of the elections in which they voted “for a few days.”
Jean-Pierre insisted that it could take days for the results across the nation to be tallied. “I also just want to note — as you all know because you guys have covered this these past couple of years in 2022 —it took two weeks to call every state,” she warned. “In modern elections, more and more ballots are being cast in early voting and also by mail. And many states don’t start counting those ballots until after the polls close on November 8.”
She then turned to President Biden’s similar warning: “So you heard the president say this the other night, he has been very clear on this as well: We may not know all the winners of elections for a few days. It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner.”
“That’s how this is supposed to work, and it’s important for us to all be patient while votes are being counted,” she preached. “This is not just for all of you but this is for all the folks who are watching and so I think it’s important just to remind folks that something that people should be mindful of as well.”