DOJ sending election observers to Indianapolis, Lake County

Federal observers are coming to Indiana’s Marion and Lake counties on Election Day as voters in the two heavily Democratic areas cast their votes.

A U.S. Department of Justice email addressed to the Marion County Election Board didn’t indicate why the counties were selected for monitoring.

“Out of 92 counties in Indiana, Trump’s DOJ has chosen two counties with the largest populations of Democratic voters and Black and Hispanic voters to subject to ‘election monitoring.’ It’s no coincidence,” said U.S. Rep. André Carson, who represents most of Indianapolis, in a news release.

“It’s also no coincidence that it comes just weeks before an election, when Trump has record low poll numbers. It follows multiple, illegal attempts to change election procedures for his benefit, from a president who still maintains the 2020 election was stolen,” continued Carson, who urged residents to vote early.

Marion County Clerk’s Office spokesman Dan Goldblatt said the choice comes off as partisan, but that the election board is “very curious to learn more.” The election board’s attorneys are scheduled to meet with DOJ representatives Oct. 28, he told the Capital Chronicle.

Lake County Election Board Director Michelle Fajman said she’d only “heard speculation” as to why the two counties were selected.

The DOJ, meanwhile, assured officials that the monitors “only observe.”

“They do not intrude or interfere in any way in the voting process,” the Marion County letter reads, signed by DOJ Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Hwui Lee.

The monitors will look for compliance with a range of federal voting rights laws, plus the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the letter.

The email was sent Tuesday afternoon to a general inbox at the Marion County Clerk’s Office that residents typically use for questions about child support or ticket payments, Goldblatt said. Election board members didn’t receive word until Wednesday.

Guidance to poll workers

Marion County election board members have already approved a “poll worker response protocol.” The document offers step-by-step guidance for several hypothetical scenarios involving DOJ monitors and other federal representatives.

Lake County’s Fajman said guidance to poll workers will depend on whether the monitors stay outside or have credentials authorizing them to enter polling places.

“We’re waiting more information from the state,” said Fajman, who reported being notified Wednesday by the Indiana Election Division. “… That’s how we’ll determine the notification for our poll workers that either one: you may see these individuals outside the polling place, or two: these individuals may have credentials that would look like this, and hopefully give them a copy of what to be aware of.”

Communicating that to Lake County poll workers won’t be difficult, Fajman said. The election board has their email addresses, and they’re picking up their Election Day supplies next Saturday.

“So, (we) appreciate, you know, the heads-up notice that they are trying to provide, so that way we can inform our poll workers of expectations and what they may or may not see on Election Day,” she said.

The Indiana Election Division has received an email about the observers, and the agency is meeting with DOJ to “understand their posture and how it squares with state law in terms of entering voting locations,” an official with the agency said.

Election leaders in other states have reported receiving similar notifications from the DOJ. Some had observers for primary elections in the spring.

The DOJ in August announced plans to dispatch 1,000 election monitors to midterm election polling places nationwide, according to comments made to Bloomberg.

That’s significantly more than the 289 observers sent out for the 2022 midterm elections, and above the 714 involved in the 2024 presidential election, CBS News reported.