Federal monitors heading to Cass County polls on Election Day

Department of Justice election monitors will observe polling locations in Cass County on Election Day as part of a nationwide effort.

The federal observers will be part of more than 1,000 election monitors being sent to polling locations across all 50 states on Election Day, an expansion of the department’s monitoring compared to 2022. In the 2022 midterms, observers were sent to 64 jurisdictions across 24 states.

Sarah Heinle, head election official for Cass County, North Dakota’s most populous county, said she spoke with Department of Justice officials Friday morning and learned the department will send a handful of election monitors on Tuesday.

The DOJ monitors will visit up to seven polling locations in Cass County and will observe for about an hour at each site to ensure compliance with federal election law, she said. Cass County, home to Fargo and West Fargo, accounted for about 22% of North Dakota voters in the 2022 midterms.

“They will be following standard election observer laws and rules for North Dakota just like anybody else going there,” Heinle said. 

She said the federal monitors want to ensure express voting options are available and observe whether polling locations allow assistance to be provided for people who request it.

“It’ll be just like when the ACLU or the League of Women voters, or anybody else, who monitors our polls goes out there,” Heinle said. 

North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe said he also participated on the call with Department of Justice officials Friday. 

Trump’s DOJ sends 1,000 election monitors to 50 states; locations not yet disclosed

“We had a lot of questions as to what are they going to be doing, and I feel comfortable with what they are trying to achieve,” Howe said. “They made it very clear that they will not be interrupting.”

Howe said DOJ officials were informed they cannot interact with voters within 100 feet of a polling location. Howe said he asked why monitors would need to interact with voters, and the DOJ officials indicated the department wants to know about the “voter experience,” especially if someone is turned away from the polls.

“They will be wearing the same election observer sticker that the ACLU will wear and the League of Women Voters will wear, and any other person that wants to be an election observer,” Howe said. He added Department of Justice officials said they wanted to be “as unobtrusive as possible.”

A spokesperson for the League of Women Voters of North Dakota said the group will also have election observers at polling locations in North Dakota on Election Day.

The Native American Rights Fund, a nonprofit headquartered in Colorado, will send about 300 poll watchers to nine states, including North Dakota, said Jacqueline De León, senior staff attorney for the organization.

Eighteen observers will be dispatched to nine locations in North Dakota, she said

“We are focused on areas that have significant Native American populations throughout the state,” De León said.

The poll watchers will be watching for a “smooth administration” of the elections, she said. The group’s election monitors also want to document if Native American voters needed to travel long distances to vote and are able to use their tribal IDs at polling locations, De León said.

The group encourages Native American voters who encounter difficulties casting ballots during the election to contact the nonprofit at 866-OUR-VOTE, or by email at [email protected].

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota will not have its own observers at election sites, but works collaboratively with the League of Women Voters to respond to election complaints or concerns, said Cody Schuler, advocacy manager for the ACLU of North Dakota.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Michael Achterling can be reached at [email protected].