Federal election monitors will be stationed at Cuyahoga County polling places on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sends about 1,000 monitors to all 50 states.

The deployment is more than double the 388 monitors the DOJ sent during the 2022 midterm election, Fox 8 reported. Medina and Franklin counties will also receive monitors. The DOJ has called it the department's largest such effort, according to PBS NewsHour.

Cuyahoga County covers Strongsville, North Royalton, Brecksville and Broadview Heights. The exact number of monitors assigned to the county and which polling sites they will visit have not been disclosed.

What monitors will do

According to a DOJ Civil Rights Division letter sent to states, monitors dress in business casual with no uniforms or pins identifying them as DOJ, Conservative Daily News reported. They do not talk to voters inside polling places and are forbidden from carrying firearms, even in open-carry states.

The monitors check compliance with federal laws including the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In a statement to Scripps News, the DOJ said every monitor "will merely observe and report any potential violations of federal law to the Department, which will be reviewed after Election Day," according to News 5 Cleveland.

Ohio experts split on deployment

Steven Huefner, a professor at Ohio State University, said the monitors themselves are not a major cause for concern. He noted that the U.S. Constitution gives states responsibility for conducting federal elections and that observers are not allowed to interact with voters or carry weapons, Fox 8 reported.

But Huefner raised a broader worry. "There is a concern this election that the role of the monitors being dispatched by the Department of Justice is different this time and that it is instead to sow the seeds of potential challenges to the outcomes of the election," he said.

Mark Brown, a professor at Capital University Law School, said the large-scale deployment could be interpreted as an attempt to deter voting, despite laws against voter intimidation, Fox 8 reported.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Tuesday, Oct. 27, that federal election observers are nothing new and have been deployed under both Republican and Democratic administrations. He said he is confident any challenge to Ohio's election results would find nothing untoward.

"I am concerned to the effect that it could create doubt among people or whatever else, but that's why we share accurate information about how elections really work in Ohio," LaRose said, according to Fox 8.

Prosecutors now allowed as monitors

One change this year: the DOJ has abandoned a long-held rule barring prosecutors from serving as election monitors, PBS NewsHour reported. Stacey Young, executive director of Justice Connection, a network of former DOJ alumni, said prosecutors "have prosecutorial authority and can be viewed as a more intimidating presence."

A senior DOJ official confirmed prosecutors will participate but said they would not personally prosecute a case based on something they observed, according to PBS NewsHour.

Wyoming incident raised flags

During Wyoming's Aug. 18 primary, a local official said she witnessed two federal monitors asking questions about poll worker training and seeking to look at tabulators. Republican Gov. Mark Gordon called their conduct "very odd," according to Conservative Daily News.

The DOJ acknowledged it had not informed the local clerk ahead of time and had a call with Wyoming officials that a senior official called "very productive," PBS NewsHour reported.

Citizen observers also training

Luka Weinberger of the immigration advocacy group Ohio Buen Vecino Network said citizen legal observers are training to watch for voter intimidation at Ohio polls. Weinberger cautioned against spreading unnecessary fear, saying the group is concerned about people misinterpreting what they see at polling places and creating panic, Fox 8 reported.

Voters can find their polling location through the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.