By Chase Smith
Contributing Writer
Democrats and Republicans are deploying lawyers, poll watchers and election observers ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, in preparation for disputes over how votes are cast and counted.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is setting up a “war room” to coordinate Democrats’ response to any effort by President Donald Trump to challenge the results. In a Friday letter to Senate Democrats, Schumer said the war room would serve as a hub after Election Day. It will connect senators’ offices, House Democrats, outside allies and lawyers so they share the same information and a unified message.
“We have no idea how long this legal effort will take but, whether it’s a few days, a few weeks or several months, we will be ready to fight [Trump] every step of the way,” Schumer wrote.
Schumer said the Senate Democrats’ Election Protection Task Force would spend Election Day monitoring reports from Senate election observers around the country. It will share what it learns with senators through the Senate Rules Committee.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a Sunday interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” that he expects lawsuits after the elections and that the party is ready to protect the results as well as the vote.
Martin criticized Trump and praised election administrators and secretaries of state from both parties, saying he believes the elections will be free and fair.
State Democratic parties have trained an estimated 10,000 volunteers to watch polling places and report concerns involving federal agents.
“The RNC has built one of the largest election integrity operations in party history,” RNC Election Integrity Communications Director Ally Triolo said. “With record-breaking poll worker recruitment, strategic deployments in battleground states, and a nationwide network of volunteers, attorneys and election observers, we’re strengthening voter confidence and ensuring every legal vote counts.”
The RNC said it has about 21,500 poll workers signed up nationwide, election integrity staff deployed in 22 target states, and more than 180 active election integrity cases in 37 states. It said its teams will monitor issues such as observer access, polling hours, ballot counting, and voter ID and mail ballot rules. It said it does not comment on hypothetical litigation and that any legal response would depend on the facts and state law.
The Department of Justice will have about 1,000 election monitors in counties in all 50 states, department spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said on Friday. She said the monitors will observe and report potential violations of federal law, which the department will review after Election Day, and that they are required not to interfere with voting.
“Election monitoring is longstanding practice that dates back to the 1960s,” Pels said.
She noted that the Biden administration sent more than 700 monitors in the 2024 election.
Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Governors Association sued Trump, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 20. The suit seeks to stop the administration from allegedly pressuring states to remove voters from the rolls or set aside ballots.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said he would rule by Monday on their request for a temporary restraining order. Boasberg had not ruled as of the time of publication.
Under his separate order, the administration disclosed in a Friday court filing that the Justice Department had sent formal demands to California and Washington state, and that the Department of Homeland Security had sent letters to California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
A federal judge on Sunday dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s Senate results if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses by a margin smaller than the number of votes cast for another candidate also named Dan Sullivan, finding that the department lacked standing to bring the action. The Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal shortly after.
The Justice Department on Monday asked the Supreme Court to order California to set aside about 20,000 mail ballots the department says likely belong to noncitizens, after a federal judge and an appeals court rejected the request. California officials dispute the accuracy of the department’s list.
Jack Phillips, Zachary Stieber, Matthew Vadum and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
