California voters will go to the polls on Nov. 4 to vote on Proposition 50. (photo by Rance Collins)

The Nov. 4 election will be monitored by the U.S. Department of Justice in Los Angeles County, along with several other locations in California. According to an Oct. 24 release from the department, the move will be made to “ensure transparency, ballot security and compliance with federal law.”

The monitors were requested by the California Republican Party, whose Chairwoman Corrin Rankin wrote in a letter to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, “In recent elections, we have received reports of irregularities in these counties that we fear will undermine either the willingness of voters to participate in the election or their confidence in the announced results of the election.”

The California Republican Party did not respond for a request for additional comments.

“Transparency at the polls translates into faith in the electoral process, and this Department of Justice is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We will commit the resources necessary to ensure the American people get the fair, free and transparent elections they deserve.”

The monitors will be sent to five California counties, as well as Passaic County in New Jersey – which has an election on the same day. In addition to Los Angeles County, Kern, Riverside, Fresno and Orange counties in California will all be affected. Election monitors are not new. According to PolitiFact, previous administrations have sent workers to both state and local elections since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Their role is to observe, take notes and prevent violations of federal law.

“Transparent election processes and election monitoring are critical tools for safeguarding our elections and ensuring public trust in the integrity of our elections,” Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said during a news conference on Oct. 27 that the state would use its own observers to keep an eye on the “so-called election monitors.”

“[The federal monitors] will not be allowed to do things that they’re not allowed to do,” Bonta said. “They’re not going to be allowed to interfere in ways that the law prohibits.”

The Justice Department’s action was decried by some California officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, who pointed out that this is a “statewide election for a statewide constitution.”

“This is about voter intimidation. This is about voter suppression. Period. Full Stop,” Newsom said on X. “And it’s a pattern, isn’t it? It’s consistent with what they’ve done with the federalization of the National Guard, and the intimidation and the chill that that’s created – they’ll do that right around Election Day, as well.”

Newsom said the move was “a bridge too far” and that it was “the scaffolding for all across this country in next November’s election [in 2026].”

The Nov. 4 California election has uniquely national implications for an off-year ballot. The vote is on Proposition 50, one which will determine how the state’s Congressional map is drawn through 2030, when the next census takes place and redistricting is held under the normal process. For the next four years, however, the lines would be reconfigured in a way that is likely to transform several Republican-held districts into Democratic-leaning districts. Newsom initiated this plan as a response to the Texas state legislature’s redistricting map, passed in August, which is expected to eliminate several Democratic-held seats. 

California and New Jersey are not the only states heading to the polls on Nov. 4, but no plans were announced by the Justice Department to head to either New York or Virginia.