DOJ sends about 1,000 monitors to polls in all 50 states on Election Day, up from about 100 in 2024

The Justice Department said Tuesday it is sending about 1,000 election observers and monitors to all 50 states, a broader effort than the agency has ever deployed, according to CNBC\'s Election Day live coverage. A department lawyer told a federal judge in Washington on Monday that about 900 people would monitor polling places and that in 2024 "there were about 100 monitors," CNBC reported.

What is at stake

All 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats are on the ballot. Republicans are defending narrow majorities in both chambers, and CNBC notes that a Democratic win in either would end unified Republican rule in Washington. Polls begin closing at 6 p.m. ET, with Alaska the last at 1 a.m. ET, per the AP schedule CNBC uses.

What the fight is about

The administration has spent months challenging how states run elections: lawsuits, an attempted new Postal Service rule on mail ballots, letters to state officials, and the monitor plan, CNBC reports. California Attorney General Rob Bonta told CNBC that Democratic attorneys general have "war-gamed" scenarios and that "each of Trump\'s attempts has failed." The Justice Department did not respond to CNBC\'s request for comment. Its rapid-response account said on Oct. 12 that voting by noncitizens "is a federal crime." Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Oct. 22 it was possible, hypothetically, that DOJ would try to block certification in some scenario, and the department says it does not intend to improperly interfere with elections.

Recent court results, per CNBC: the Supreme Court on Monday rejected, with no noted dissents, a DOJ request tied to roughly 20,000 California mail ballots, and a judge dismissed on Sunday a DOJ suit seeking to delay certification of Alaska\'s Senate result (DOJ has appealed). On Monday the NAACP also asked Judge Reggie Walton to bar monitors who are federal law-enforcement personnel. We could not find a ruling on that request as of this writing.

Context from States Newsroom (Oct. 27): about 1,000 monitors is small against more than 95,000 polling places in 2024, per Election Assistance Commission survey data, and a DOJ spokesperson said the full list of monitored locations would not be released until Election Day. Utah\'s lieutenant governor said DOJ assured her monitors would not approach voters or wear insignia.

If you are voting today

• Check your polling place and closing time with your state or county election office, not social media.
• CNBC reported scanner problems at some Westchester County, N.Y., sites. The county said paper ballots would go into sealed emergency bags to be counted later, and urged voters not to leave.
• Counting can run past election night in close races. Expect some results to stay open for days.

The market angle

Stocks are mixed midday, with the S&P 500 up about 0.4% and the Nasdaq about 0.9%, according to CNBC; the S&P is up more than 10% for 2026. For how markets have behaved after past midterms, see our midterm history and Bitcoin after midterms pieces.

Sources: CNBC, States Newsroom, Yahoo Finance data. Politics coverage here is neutral: positions are attributed to the people who stated them. This is market information, not investment advice.