Blog - DOJ to post election monitors in four Pennsylvania counties on Nov. 3

The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has told Pennsylvania's secretary of the commonwealth that it will send election monitors to Philadelphia, Allegheny, Luzerne and Lehigh counties on Nov. 3. In a letter to Al Schmidt, trial attorney James T. Catania wrote that the monitors will only observe and take notes, will follow all rules of the state and jurisdiction, and are barred from carrying firearms even where open carry is legal. The Pennsylvania Department of State answered that monitors “are not legally entitled to any greater access to polling places than members of the general public,” and asked them to coordinate with local election offices so voting is not disrupted. Bucks County is not on the list. The DOJ says the deployment follows its non-citizen voting cases in Pennsylvania.

Sources: WHP / CBS 21, DOJ Civil Rights Division letter to Secretary Al Schmidt, DOJ press release, Oct. 23

Image: A Better Bucks, quoting the Civil Rights Division letter