Intimidation Feared as Trump DOJ Boosts Its Own Election Monitors While Rejecting International Observers

International election observers who have monitored US federal elections since 2002, in line with the practices of the vast majority of countries across North America, Europe, and Asia, said Tuesday that President Donald Trump's refusal to invite the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to observe the November midterms was "regrettable" and "not in line" with the United States' commitments.

The decision was announced as the US Department of Justice defended the administration's plans to send its own election monitors to the polls, with Attorney General Todd Blanche insisting in an interview with Fox News on Sunday that Trump "is doing the same thing that every single administration has done in our generation and in multiple generations."

In a letter to Blanche and Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, US Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Joe Morelle (D-NY) wrote last week that Congress authorized federal election observers in 1965 under the Voting Rights Act, with observers determining "whether persons who are entitled to vote are being permitted to vote” and “whether votes cast by persons entitled to vote are being properly tabulated."

The DOJ's Civil Rights Division also sends its attorneys to monitor elections, with observers required to remain outside polling places and notify local authorities of their presence.

But the DOJ deployed monitors to eight states over the summer to observe primary elections, and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, complained of "aggressive" and "disruptive" behavior, including demands to interview voters and attempts to access voting machines.

"In light of the DOJ’s announcement that it intends to deploy an unprecedented 1,000 monitors to polling places throughout the
country for the general election," wrote Raskin and Morelle, "the 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."

Some Republican officials have alluded to plans for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to go to polling places during the midterms. The Department of Homeland Security has denied there is such a plan, but Trump, who has persistently claimed US elections are rife with so-called "voter fraud," has said he would "do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections."

The news that the OSCE is not being invited to observe the midterms only heightened concerns that the administration may try to intimidate people who go to vote in elections that Republicans are widely expected to lose, as Trump's approval rate plummets to 32% and Americans express disdain for his war on Iran, soaring prices of everyday goods, and the violent mass deportation agenda that has turned communities upside down.

“The Trump administration’s decision not to invite international observers to the United States is deeply antithetical to the spirit of freedom, democracy, and transparency that defines our elections," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I was an official election monitor in the country of Georgia in 2012 and most recently in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022, so I know firsthand the importance of showing up for Allies and partners to improve the public’s confidence in election integrity. The OSCE does just that."

"I urge the Trump administration to respect the role of independent election observers and ensure that the United States holds itself to the same standards that we would expect of any other democracy," said Shaheen.

The decision to keep the OSCE from observing the elections makes the US one of only three countries in the organization, along with Russia and Belarus, to do so.

“Refusing election observers is usually something that countries in a position of weakness do, when they know that they have corrupt or unfair elections,” said Dan Baer, a former US ambassador to the OSCE during the Obama administration, told MS NOW on Tuesday. “It’s very strange for the United States, which has been historically a standard setter in free and fair elections, to refuse observers.”

On Monday, Trump also met with former Mesa County, Colorado clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted on charges of trying to breach the state's voting machines in a search for evidence that election had been committed in the 2020 election Trump lost. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis granted Peters clemency after repeated calls from Trump.

Former acting US Attorney Ed Martin told Real America's Voice that Trump and Peters were "talking about the plans" for the elections, and claimed voting machines are "compromised" because parts of them are manufactured in China and Russia.

"If she's meeting with Trump to talk about the midterms," said journalist Pedro L. Gonzalez, "then there is a real non-zero chance that Trump is going to try or wants to try to do something to upend them."