Pennsylvania officials react to Trump’s DOJ plan to send election observers to Philadelphia and 3 other counties

The Justice Department plans to send election observers to four Pennsylvania counties for the 2026 midterm elections, according to a letter sent to state officials.

Election observers will be present at polling locations in Philadelphia, Allegheny, Luzerne and Lehigh counties on Election Day, Nov. 3, the letter to Secretary of State Al Schmidt said. An attorney with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division authored the letter sent on October 22.

“Monitoring by the Civil Rights Division is being conducted in the same manner as in the past. Our observers are simply observing and taking notes,” the letter states. “They will not intrude or interfere in any way with the voting process. Observers will report to the returning officer and present government identification (and a letter from the jurisdiction authorizing entry to the polling places with the names of the observers, if the jurisdiction wishes each observer to be identified).”

In August, the Justice Department announced that it send a record 1,000 election observers to polling places in all 50 states.

Observers are often sent to polling places to monitor compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act – which prohibits voters from discrimination and intimidation that would prevent them from voting on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability or other protected status.

During the last 2022 midterms, 289 people served as election observers nationwide, CBS News reported. During the 2024 general elections, 714 observers were distributed across 27 states.

Typically, Justice Department personnel serve as election observers, with assistance from members of local U.S. Attorney’s offices.

The department said it would not share the full list of locations it was monitoring until after Election Day.

Rules for election observers

The letter states that all observers will wear casual clothing without any identification with the Department of Justice. The monitors will not be armed. If they notice a problem, they are supposed to contact their team leader and they are not supposed to talk to voters.

“Each observer has the same role: to observe potential violations of federal law and report concerns to the Department, which the Department will review after Election Day and take action as appropriate,” a DOJ spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The Pennsylvania Department of State shared more about the process.

“DOJ observers are not legally entitled to greater access to polling locations than members of the general public and we encourage them to coordinate with local election offices where they will be present to ensure their activities do not disrupt the voting process,” the Pennsylvania Department of State said in a statement.

Here’s more about the Commonwealth’s election code that the Pennsylvania Department of State shared with us:

Additionally, state and federal laws strictly limit military and police presence at voting locations. The Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits the military from infringing on the right to vote in an election, and the Pennsylvania Election Code prohibits police officers from being within 100 feet of a polling place – unless they are voting, executing a warrant or preventing a disturbance at the polling place that interferes with voting. Federal law includes similar protections and prohibits both voter intimidation and the deployment of military personnel at polling locations.

Schmidt’s office also pointed us to this fact check on poll watchers, which details what is allowed and what is not. Poll watchers must be registered in advance, and each party is only allowed two per voting precinct – and only one poll watcher per candidate is allowed to be in a polling place at a time.

If a voter has concerns about who is allowed to vote at their polling place or notices something is wrong, the nonpartisan Committee of Seventy says voters can call the Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) and report what is happening.

The Pennsylvania Department of State also has a hotline at 1-877-VOTES-PA, or you can report problems to your precinct elections judge.

Philadelphia elections official says ‘don’t get distracted’ by observers’ arrival

In Philadelphia, elections are overseen by the Office of City Commissioners. City Commissioner Omar Sabir told CBS News Philadelphia he’s not worried.

“We have these observers because of the Voting Rights Act. If they want to come, that’s no problem,” Sabir said.

Sabir said election monitoring was routine and observers visited the city in 2024 to assess language accessibility at polling locations.

“I just don’t want anyone to be distracted. Because I see what’s happening on social media, when people hear this news, people are confused and feel intimidated, and then they don’t want to come out to vote,” Sabir said. “I noticed in a lot of communities, they think they’re going to be kicked out if they go to vote. And I’m like, yo, if you’re an American citizen, you have the right to vote and I want to make that clear. … You’re going to have access to that, and you have three commissioners who are willing to give their lives to make sure that every eligible Philadelphian has the right to vote.”