The U.S. Department of Justice sent about a dozen election monitors to Lake County on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as part of what the agency called its largest monitoring effort in history.

Approximately 1,000 monitors fanned out across all 50 states for the first time, according to a DOJ announcement. Lake County and Marion County are the only two Indiana jurisdictions on the list.

The monitors will stay outside polling locations, at least 50 feet from entrances, and conduct voluntary exit interviews with voters, the Indiana Capital Chronicle first reported. They will wear plain clothes, carry no firearms and hold temporary DOJ credentials.

Indiana election officials said state law does not allow federal monitors inside any polling site.

"Their default position is to remain outside and not enter the voting location unless state law otherwise permits their entry," an Indiana Election Division official told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. "In our agency's view, our state law does not give federal monitors access to enter any voting location."

Lake County Election Board Director Michelle Fajman said in a Wednesday, Oct. 28, statement that the county is confident in its procedures and commitment to compliance with state and federal voting laws, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Civil rights group sends its own monitors

Advancement Project, a national civil rights organization, also dispatched teams to Lake County polling sites on Election Day, according to The Indiana Citizen. The group sent the teams in direct response to the DOJ deployment.

Hani Mirza, director and senior attorney of the Power & Democracy Program at Advancement Project, said the monitors would provide help to voters. The organization said it expected voters to encounter problems related to citizenship status, student ID restrictions and law enforcement interference, according to The Indiana Citizen.

Advancement Project is part of a larger effort by Count US IN, an Indiana-based election protection organization that runs an election defender program sending poll monitors to locations across the state, The Indiana Citizen reported.

The NAACP and Advancement Project filed a lawsuit in October in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging the DOJ planned to use criminal prosecutors and law enforcement personnel as election monitors, according to The Indiana Citizen. The two groups argued in the suit that the deployment's focus on voter fraud allegations, combined with the use of prosecutors, could intimidate voters.

A federal court denied the groups' request for a temporary restraining order to block law enforcement agents from serving as monitors for the Nov. 3 election, The Indiana Citizen reported. The case is continuing.

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

What monitors are checking

DOJ representatives told Indiana officials the monitors' questions would focus on polling accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and provisional ballots under the Help America Vote Act, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported. The DOJ also emphasized language assistance required in certain jurisdictions by the Voting Rights Act, but neither Lake County nor Marion County is subject to that mandate, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

The DOJ has sent election monitors since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. For comparison, 289 monitors were deployed for the 2022 midterms and 714 for the 2024 presidential election, according to CBS News reporting cited by the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Voters with complaints about federal voting rights can call the DOJ hotline at 1-800-253-3931, according to the department's announcement. Disability-related questions can go to 1-800-514-0301.

The Lake County Board of Elections meets next on Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. for provisional ballot review and certification, according to the board's Election Day agenda.