Justice Department monitors will monitor poll places in Luzerne County on Election Day, Nov. 3, as they have in the past, county officials said.
DOJ monitors were present for both the 2024 primary and general elections and the 2022 general election, according to prior reporting.
“This is definitely nothing new for Luzerne County,” Gene Molino, the county’s assistant solicitor, said.
Following past practice, the county will not grant permission for federal monitors to be stationed inside polling places, which means monitors must stay at least 10 feet outside polling places, the same rule that applies to anyone who isn’t voting, Molino said.
Molino said he received an email from the DOJ last week about the monitoring, similar to the communication in 2024 during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Some may be incorrectly equating the upcoming monitoring with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, Molino said.
“That’s not what we’re talking about here. This is the DOJ Civil Rights Division performing the observation,” Molino said.
The department’s Civil Rights Division has jurisdiction over federal voting rights statutes that include the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Help America Vote Act, officials have said.
The department investigates potential violations of the federal voting rights statutes. If any issues arise on Election Day, the department’s attorney for this jurisdiction would stay in communication with county officials, last week’s DOJ notification to the county said.
“As the Civil Rights Division has done in the past, our monitors only observe. They do not intrude or interfere in any way in the voting process,” the notification said.
Molino said he received no complaints about the monitors in either 2024 election. He does not know which of the county’s 186 precincts they will be observing.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo addressed the topic during a Monday afternoon general election discussion session held by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Keep Our Republic.
Crocamo said DOJ observers have been here before, and monitors from other entities have come to the county as well. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania will also be in the county on Election Day, she said.
“We have nothing to hide. We will follow state law, which means they will be able to monitor but not go into the polling places,” Crocamo said.
During Monday’s panel discussion, former U.S. District Court judge John E. Jones III, now president of Dickinson College, said the single role of DOJ monitors is to observe and report back. They cannot interfere and have no power to stop or impede election conduct, he said. Actions “outside of that” could trigger legal action, he added.
In a subsequent statement Monday, Crocamo said voters should “cast their ballots with confidence” and immediately report any problem at their polling place to the poll workers on site or to the county election bureau at 570-825-1715 or elections@luzernecounty.org.
County Election Director Emily Cook also set up a new complaint form that can be found on the election section of the county’s website for voters to report any issues they believe warrant further review.
Crocamo’s statement said the election bureau, county Election Board and hundreds of poll workers are “prepared to run a fair, accurate, and lawful election.”
“County administration has complete confidence in the work of our Bureau of Elections staff. Monitoring confirms that work,” it said.
DOJ monitors are also scheduled to be in Lehigh, Philadelphia and Allegheny counties Nov. 3, according to published reports.