NJ Attorney General Says DOJ's Plan to "Monitor Polling Sites" in Passaic County is "Highly Inappropriate"
"Our State is committed to ensuring a free, fair, and secure election, and we will not allow anyone to interfere with or disrupt our elections," Attorney General Platkin said in a statement.
Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will “monitor polling sites” in Passaic County, New Jersey, and five California counties — Kern, Riverside, Fresno, Orange, and Los Angeles.
“The Department, through the Civil Rights Division, enforces federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all eligible citizens to access the ballot,” the DOJ press release says. “The Department regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities across the country.”
In response to DOJ’s announcement, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin told The Carceral Report in a statement:
Our State is committed to ensuring a free, fair, and secure election, and we will not allow anyone to interfere with or disrupt our elections. The Trump Department of Justice’s announcement that it is sending federal “election monitors” to Passaic County is highly inappropriate, and DOJ has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions. The Constitution gives states, not the federal government, the primary responsibility for running elections, and our state’s hardworking elections officials have been preparing for months to run a safe and secure election. We are committed to ensuring that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and make their voices heard, and we are considering all of our options to prevent any effort to intimidate voters or interfere with our elections.
New Jersey is in the midst of a closely watched governors’ race between Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican (and President Trump ally) Jack Ciattarelli.
The Director of Appellate Advocacy for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) Ezra Rosenberg told The Carceral Report in a statement:
Historically, the U.S. Department of Justice has played a role in protecting the rights of voters and ensuring that elections are administered fairly, and the DOJ’s role has historically been free of politicization. We urge it to continue this tradition, which is essential to our democracy.
“As always, we will keep a close eye on the upcoming election to ensure that all eligible voters can exercise their rights free from obstruction and intimidation. We encourage voters to call the non-partisan election protection hotline, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, if they have questions or encounter any problems at the polls.
DOJ’s press release includes a statement from Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba who said, “Election protection means making sure every eligible voter can participate freely and every lawful vote is counted.”
Habba, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s attorney, has long been the subject of controversy. A New Jersey appeals court is currently considering if she was legitimately appointed to her role as Acting U.S. Attorney. In 2023, a Florida judge fined her and Trump close to $1 million for filing a frivolous lawsuit against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who Trump defeated in the 2016 presidential election.
According to DOJ’s press release, “this effort will be overseen by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division under the leadership of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. The Division will deploy Civil Rights personnel who will coordinate with U.S. Attorney’s Offices.”
Dhillon is a former legal advisor to Trump who has called doctors who provide gender-affirming care “butchers.” Last year, she posted on X:
I’m fired up about protecting America’s children from predatory adults pushing trans lies - you cannot change your sex. You CAN ruin a child’s life by lying to them about this. We aim to hold the butchers responsible.
Dhillon has also repeatedly attacked voting rights. According to a report in HuffPost:
During his 2020 campaign, she perpetuated his lie that the election was stolen from him and spread false claims about persistent voter fraud in Pennsylvania, a state that Trump legitimately lost to Joe Biden.
Her law firm, Dhillon Law Group, has filed more than a dozen lawsuits across eight states aimed at challenging voting rights, election processes or the ability of Trump to appear on 2024 ballots in states that disqualified him because of his role in inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Earlier this year, 75 organizations signed onto a letter opposing her confirmation as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, writing:
Ms. Dhillon has relentlessly tried to limit access to the ballot box. For example, she represented the Georgia Republican Party in a case defending the state’s requirement that absentee ballots are valid only if they are signed in ink, and she represented a member of Pennsylvania’s Board of Elections challenging a state law that sent mail-in ballots to every registered voter, which would have heavily expanded voter access in the state.
“Her fervent advocacy on behalf of Trump, who has made clear that he values loyalty to him above service to the country, is unacceptable for a position that is intended to serve the people of this nation,” they wrote.
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