MORNING HEADLINES | For the second time this year, the Trump administration will be sending U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) officials to monitor elections in Charleston County.
The move is part of a 1,000-person strong administration effort to put DOJ monitors in key polling places in all 50 states for the Nov. 3 midterm elections. It follows a July DOJ letter warning election officials in S.C. and across the country that they could be prosecuted for allowing illegal immigrants to register or vote in federal elections.
Charleston County Board of Elections executive director Isaac Cramer, who also hosted federal monitors during this August’s GOP U.S. Senate runoff, told The Post and Courier the federal presence will be in the form of four or five two-person teams at select polling places throughout the county.
Cramer added that, in his conversations with the DOJ this week, officials indicated that the decision to focus again on Charleston came from higher-ups at the agency.
While the Trump administration has said the monitors will meet all “legal and ethical requirements, including that they not interfere with the voting process,” some state election officials have expressed serious misgivings about the process.
“This is the first time ever that we have had to engage in scenario planning to safeguard against potential federal interference in elections,” Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told the New York Times this week. “It seems like the federal government is now adversarial to the states.”
The DOJ is expected to release a full list of targeted areas, including possibly additional S.C. counties, early next week.
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