Feds to monitor Miami-Dade, Broward elections on Tuesday, watching for any voting issues
The Department of Justice is deploying investigators, prosecutors and other monitors in dozens of jurisdictions across the nation, including in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, to ensure they comply with federal voting rights laws in Tuesday’s general election.
The only other Florida counties under federal election scrutiny are Orange and Osceola. Orange County includes Orlando; Osceola encompasses Kissimmee.
Not included in the Justice Department’s monitoring list is Duval County. There, an 18-year-old supporter of Donald Trump was charged with aggravated assault last week after he threatened two older Kamala Harris supporters with a machete outside an early-voting place at a library in Neptune Beach.
Feds watching 27 states
Overall, authorities said, the Justice Department is monitoring polling places in 87 jurisdictions in 27 states — from Alaska to Wisconsin — to protect the rights of citizens’ access to the November 2024 ballot, which features the Harris-Trump presidential election, congressional races and local and state contests.
With mail and early voting accounting for more than half to two-thirds of ballots cast so far in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Justice Department staffers will still have plenty to keep their eyes on Tuesday. There are more than 1,300 voting precincts in those two populous Florida counties.
Working behind the scenes, the FBI has set up election command posts in 56 field offices across the country, including one in Miramar. On Monday, the FBI gave the news media a brief tour of the command post, where federal agents and intelligence analysts were stationed at 28 computers. They’re prepared to respond to potential reports ranging from ballot fraud to voter intimidation to cyber-security breaches, starting Monday through after the election.
“We are in constant communication between our Miami command post and our national command post [in Washington, D.C.] to vet information about the election,” said Ryan James, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI field office in South Florida.
The FBI’s local post, under the supervision of election crimes coordinator Special Agent Bryan Piper, runs like a triage center designed “to protect the integrity of our elections,” James said.
READ MORE: Republicans hold onto turnout advantage as Miami-Dade County closes out early voting
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will coordinate the general election effort, including deploying monitors in the Southern District of Florida and keeping in contact with state and local election officials.
Watching for voter intimidation, protecting election workers
The division’s Disability Rights Section will focus on ensuring that people with disabilities have access to polling places. Meanwhile, the division’s Criminal Section will be tasked with enforcing laws that prohibit voter intimidation and voter suppression based on race, color, national origin or religion.
The department’s Criminal Division, including prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and special agents with the FBI in South Florida, will take the lead in enforcing laws that prohibit election crimes, such as destruction of ballots, vote-buying, multiple voting or other types of fraudulent voting.
They will also be responsible for enforcing laws prohibiting threats of violence against election workers, and prohibiting voter intimidation and voter suppression for reasons other than race, color, national origin or religion.
Episodes of violence or threats have occurred across the country in the past few weeks of early and mail voting, according to the New York Times. Last Monday, someone set ballot drop boxes on fire in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, and a similar arson attack was reported last week on a United States Postal Service mailbox in Phoenix.
The combustible atmosphere stems from the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Trump, the former president, repeatedly lied that the 2020 election had been stolen from him. Poll workers, secretaries of state and other election officials faced an onslaught of threats. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, leading to a half-dozen deaths, hundreds of injuries and more than a thousand arrests.
Anyone with questions or complaints may call the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 800-253-3931 or report them on the department’s website, www.civilrights.justice.gov. To reach the FBI, call 1-800-225-5324 or visit its website, tips.fbi.gov.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 3:14 PM.