The U.S. Department of Justice is sending federal monitors to Lake County for Election Day, but local officials don’t know why.
Lake County Elections and Registration Director Michelle Fajman told the Post-Tribune Friday morning that she was contacted by the DOJ “two, maybe three days ago.”
“(They gave) no reason,” Fajman said. “Just that the two counties were selected and that they would be coming here, and what they’d be watching for.”
Fajman said her department is waiting for more information from the Indiana Election Division, which is a bipartisan office in the secretary of state’s office.
“We’re waiting on some guidance, and we’re waiting to figure out if (monitors) are going to be credentialed,” she added. “Are they going to be inside the polling place? Are they going to be outside the polling place? We’re just waiting on some more information at this point in time.”
Election pollworkers go through training every year where they learn who is allowed in polling places and what credentials they must have, and who’s allowed outside the polling places. The elections and voter registration office will also have 36 deputy election commissioners assisting, Fajman said.
“These are parameters that we usually have in place,” she said. “Once we find out more information on if they will have credentials or if they will not, we will be passing that information on to our poll workers so they can be aware of it.”
Indiana Election Division Co-Director Angela Nussmeyer said in an email to the Post-Tribune that her office received an email on Wednesday to send monitors to Lake and Marion counties.
“We are meeting with them to understand (the) DOJ process and plans,” Nussmeyer said. “After we do, our office will determine next steps.”
A spokesperson for the Indiana Secretary of State office did not respond to Post-Tribune questions by deadline, including when the office was notified about the DOJ monitors, why they would be sent to Lake and Marion counties, and what parameters are in place regarding how election staff should deal with monitors.
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, said in a statement Friday that it’s unsurprising that the DOJ is monitoring Indiana’s two largest Democratic-voting counties.
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“Historically, the Department of Justice has deployed election monitors to help protect voters from intimidation and ensure they can exercise their right to vote,” Mrvan said. “… This decision raises legitimate concerns that the Administration is using the federal government to intimidate voters and undermine confidence in our elections.”
Mrvan believes President Donald Trump’s administration is “more focused on maintaining political power than answering to voters for their failed policies.”
He said he has “every confidence” in the Lake County Election Board to administer a fair and secure election.
“All individuals deserve the opportunity to cast their ballots without intimidation or political interference,” Mrvan said. “I also believe these efforts will ultimately backfire. Voters understand that their voice matters, and they have the power to demand lower costs for everyday goods, access to affordable health care, and an end to seemingly endless wars.”
U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, D-Indianapolis, who represents Marion County, said in a statement Thursday night that the DOJ chose the two counties with the largest populations of Democratic, Black and Hispanic voters to monitor. Carson encouraged those in Marion County to vote early.
“It’s no coincidence,” Carson said. “It’s also no coincidence that it comes just weeks before the election, when Trump has record low poll numbers. It follows multiple, illegal attempts to change election procedures for his benefit, from a president who still maintains the 2020 election was stolen.”
A Department of Justice spokeswoman strongly contested Carson’s concerns that some of the 1,000 monitors nationwide would be sent to Lake and Marion Counties, which have Indiana’s highest percentages of Black and Hispanic residents.
“This is absurd and untrue,” DOJ spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said in an email. In response to further questions, Pels said the agency would say which precincts or polling places they would go “closer to election day.”
“All monitors must meet the same legal and ethical requirements, including that they not interfere with the voting process,” she wrote. “Every monitor has the same role: observe for potential violations of federal law and report concerns to the Department, which the Department will review after Election Day and act where appropriate.”
“Monitors are there to observe,” she added, when asked if they could issue future indictments. “It’s illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. If our monitors uncover evidence of such crimes while monitoring, we will use it. But our monitors will not be questioning voters about their citizenship status at the polls.”
Lake County Democratic Chair Mike Repay reacted to the DOJ decision in a Thursday night statement.
“Elections are conducted by the states, and in Indiana our elections are administered and overseen by bipartisan election officials who are experienced, trained professionals committed to protecting the integrity of our elections and the right of every eligible voter to cast a ballot,” Repay said.
Repay said in his statement that he doesn’t expect any problems in Lake County on Election Day, and he expects all monitors to “follow the rules and limitations outlined in their notice and to respect the authority of Indiana and Lake County election officials.”
“At the same time, the Lake County Democratic Central Committee will remain vigilant,” Repay said. “If anyone attempts to go beyond their authorized role or interferes with the rights of voters, poll workers, or election officials, we will be prepared to meet those challenges and defend the right of every eligible Lake County voter to participate freely and without intimidation.”
Lake County Republican Party Chairman Randy Niemeyer said in a Friday news release that the party welcomes the DOJ decision to send election monitors.
In the release, Niemeyer said Lake County voters have expressed concerns with the election board that have gone unanswered, including voting machines arriving at polling stations without security tags, noncitizen voting, and absentee applications submitted by nursing home personnel without completed affidavits.
“These are not rumors,” he said. “They are matters discussed on the public record by the people charged with running our elections.”
Indiana has the primary responsibility for election administration, Niemeyer said, and federal monitoring doesn’t replace it but reinforces it.
Niemeyer also claimed in an email that election monitors were in Lake County in 2016 when former President Barack Obama was in office, but it isn’t one of the jurisdictions listed on a Nov. 7, 2016 press release about sent out by the DOJ.
“Our hope is simple,” Niemeyer said. “That the Department of Justice confirms what every eligible voter deserves. An election conducted properly, in full compliance with the law, where the results reflect the will of the people.”
Nathan Uldricks, chair of the Porter County Republican Party and a candidate on the ballot for the Senate District 4 seat, said he heard about the federal monitoring on Election Day in Lake and Marion counties but hadn’t looked into the matter in depth.
Still, as both a candidate and a former poll worker — he has served as an election judge — Uldricks said Porter County has “very good elections.”
“I have faith in our process here,” he said.
Lake County Clerk Mike Brown on Friday morning said that he couldn’t say much because he has yet to meet with Fajman and Repay to discuss the situation. He did, however, encourage people to vote early.
“This is still a new announcement, so we’re still figuring (out) a plan, but there will be a plan (to deal with the watchers),” Brown said. “Everyone will have their chance to vote, and that’s why we have all those early voting sites open. We’re even open this Sunday for early voting.”
The move to send election monitors “is consistent with the actions and words of the administration,” said Indiana University political science professor Aaron Dusso. “It’s not a surprise.”
“It’s not clear what they are supposed to do other than stand there and look intimidating,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s an unfortunate situation. We’re in the place where we have this happening and it’s not clear why.”
The Trump administration’s whole-of-government effort to find and prosecute noncitizens illegally on state voter rolls has resulted in about 1,600 voter fraud cases that have led to 160 arrests, Homeland Security Investigations senior official Matthew Millhollin said in a press briefing last month, according to the Associated Press.
They fall far short of the hundreds of thousands of noncitizen voters that Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have previously suggested were on the rolls. They also represent a tiny fraction of the country’s more than 211 million active registered voters, underscoring what former election officials and election law experts say is a proven fact: Voter fraud, including voting by noncitizens, is rare, the AP stated.
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Representatives from Common Cause Indiana and Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights said voters can call a nonpartisan hotline if they see anything improper at the polls.
“While it is not uncommon for the Department of Justice to monitor local elections, because of earlier threats by the administration to interfere with voting in some targeted communities, this year is different,” Common Cause Indiana Executive Director Julia Vaughn said in an email. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that only Lake and Marion Counties are targeted; not only do these counties have large numbers of Black and Brown voters, they are also strongholds for Democrats.”
“It is clear that federal monitors cannot make any attempt to interfere in our elections; without proper credentials, they can’t even enter polling places,” she said. “We encourage anyone who witnesses anyone trying to intimidate voters to call the 866-OUR-VOTE Election Protection hotline.”
“We are confident that local election officials in both Marion and Lake counties are prepared to deal with any situation that arises from this attempt to micro-manage their administration of the election,” she said. “Vote early and you don’t have to worry about seeing any federal monitors on Election Day.”
Editor Amy Lavalley and freelance reporter Michelle L. Quinn contributed.