The U.S. Department of Justice deployed approximately 1,000 election monitors to all 50 states on Tuesday, Nov. 3, including to Los Angeles County, in what the agency called its largest monitoring effort in history.

Los Angeles was one of four California counties where monitors were sent. The others were Alameda, Sacramento and San Diego, according to a DOJ news release. The DOJ did not disclose which specific polling locations would receive monitors.

A Justice Department spokesperson said the monitors "will be at polling locations" but that the department is not "giving out precinct details," the Los Angeles Times reported.

The deployment marks the first time the DOJ has sent election monitors to every state. In 2024, the department sent about 100 monitors nationwide, DOJ lawyer Kathryn Barragan said at a Nov. 2 federal court hearing in Washington, according to CNBC.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement that the effort would pursue "transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner."

The monitors include personnel from the Civil Rights Division, other DOJ components, U.S. Attorney's Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, according to the DOJ.

California pushes back

State Attorney General Rob Bonta said California deployed its own election observers on Nov. 3 in partnership with the Secretary of State's Office. Bonta wrote on X that the state was sending observers "to ensure that voters felt safe, that the law was followed, and that no one was discouraged from casting a ballot."

Gov. Gavin Newsom posted a video on X on Nov. 2 warning against any effort to interfere with the election, NBC San Diego reported.

The deployment came one day after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's push to force California to set aside thousands of ballots from people the federal government claims are noncitizens, according to KTVU. California officials said the administration's list appeared to be filled with errors and that setting the ballots aside could disenfranchise legal voters.

Voting rights groups raise concerns

Some voting rights groups, including the NAACP, said they believe the deployment could suppress turnout, particularly among minority voters, USA Today reported.

The NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund sought an emergency court order to block the DOJ from using law enforcement personnel as monitors. A federal judge denied the request on Nov. 2 but ruled the monitors "will not be armed with firearms, not be in uniform, not carry any insignia of their law enforcement association," according to Democracy Now.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said in an Oct. 19 statement that "allegations of widespread deception are completely unfounded," as reported by Spectrum News. Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar, said "threats and intimidation have no place in elections."

The DOJ's Civil Rights Division operates a voter complaint hotline at 1-800-253-3931 and accepts complaints by email at [email protected].