Ranking Members Raskin and Morelle Demand Answers from AG Blanche After Wyoming’s Republican Governor Reports “Aggressive” and “Disruptive” DOJ Election Monitors

Lawmakers Demand DOJ Share Details on Election Monitor Program to Ensure Compliance with Federal Law

Washington, D.C. (September 29, 2026)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Joe Morelle, Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, launched an investigation into the Trump Department of Justice’s (DOJ) election monitoring program ahead of the November midterm elections. The investigation follows reportsthat DOJ staff monitors arrived unannounced at polling places during Wyoming’s August primary and made irregular demands, including seeking access to election equipment and voters, prompting the state’s Republican governor to raise concerns about their “aggressive, unexpected, and disruptive” conduct.

The lawmakers are demanding answers about DOJ’s plans to deploy an unprecedented 1,000 election monitors across the country in November, including where they will be sent, how they are being trained and what they will be authorized to do.

“It is not the job of election monitors to administer elections, assess election equipment, determine voter eligibility, or direct local election officials,” the Ranking Members wrote. “DOJ must demonstrate that it is not misusing its election monitoring program in any way and that its monitors are being used for appropriate purposes.”

Federal election monitoring has long played an important role in protecting voting rights under Democratic and Republican administrations. But DOJ staff monitors are tasked with observing elections for compliance with federal law, not interfering with voters as they cast their ballots, accessing election equipment or taking federal control over responsibilities reserved for state and local election officials. Unlike federal observers authorized under the Voting Rights Act, DOJ staff monitors must remain outside polling places, unless allowed inside by state or local election officials.

During Wyoming’s August 18 primary elections, DOJ staff monitors reportedly arrived without advance notice and sought to interview voters and examine vote tabulators. Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee said their demands fell outside the scope of federal voting rights laws, while Republican Governor Mark Gordon asked the state’s attorney general to investigate whether the monitors’ actions had violated state law.

The incident raises urgent questions about DOJ’s plans for November, particularly amid reports that its Civil Rights Division has hired attorneys with histories of seeking to undermine free and fair elections, including one attorney who pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors after illegally accessing government election websites. 

To ensure DOJ’s election monitoring program is being used appropriately and operating within the law, Ranking Members Raskin and Morelle are requesting a briefing and records detailing: 

• Where DOJ has deployed or plans to deploy election monitors, and how those jurisdictions were selected;
• Who has been recruited to serve as monitors, their qualifications and the training they have received;
• Communications between DOJ and state and local election officials regarding monitor deployments; and
• Complaints or concerns raised by other state and local officials about monitors’ conduct during the 2026 elections.

 Click here to read the letter.