Justice Department sends election monitors to three Ohio counties

The US Department of Justice has notified election officials in Franklin, Medina, and Cuyahoga counties that federal monitors will observe the upcoming elections in those jurisdictions. The letters, sent by trial attorney James Catania, the regional coordinator for the Civil Rights Division, state that the monitors will only observe operations and will not interfere with the voting process.

This deployment is part of a broader federal effort expected to be the Justice Department's largest-ever election monitoring campaign, with plans to send observers to all fifty states. The letters indicate that the monitors will check for compliance with federal laws, including the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Uniformed and Overseas Absentee Voting Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

While the specific reasons for the Ohio deployments are not detailed in the correspondence, the move has raised concerns as President Trump has sought to assert greater federal control over elections. Cuyahoga County has previously received federal monitors in 2020, 2022, and 2024.

Read the full story at statenews.org.