The U.S. Department of Justice says monitors will be placed in Kern, Fresno, Riverside, Orange, and Los Angeles counties to bolster ballot security, prompting a divided reaction ahead of the state special election.
The Justice Department announced on Oct. 24, 2025, that it will send federal election monitors to six jurisdictions—including five California counties (Kern, Fresno, Riverside, Orange, and Los Angeles) and Passaic County, New Jersey—to observe the Nov. 4, 2025 election in order to “ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”
According to the DOJ press release, the deployment is being conducted by the Civil Rights Division under Harmeet K. Dhillon, coordinating with U.S. attorney offices.
The California move follows a request by the California GOP, which, in a letter, referenced alleged irregularities in those counties—such as duplicate ballots, list-maintenance concerns, and delayed deadlines.
California Democratic officials responded quickly. Brandon Richards, spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom, argued that the DOJ “has no legal basis to interfere in a purely state-run election,” noting that the upcoming ballot “contains only a California initiative and no federal contests,” according to the AP.
Meanwhile, Rob Bonta, California Attorney General, said the state will send its own observers to monitor the federal monitors, insisting the action is not standard in “these are not normal times.”
Additionally, Shirly N. Weber, California’s Secretary of State, weighed in with a statement saying the state had received reports that the federal government planned to send monitors and expressed concern about federal intervention in a state-only election.
However, conservative voters and officials welcomed the announcement, pointing to concrete examples of illegal voting as proof that stricter observation matters.
Orange County prosecutors this year charged a Costa Mesa woman with five felonies after investigators say she registered her dog and cast mail-in ballots in the pet’s name; the DA’s office says the dog’s ballot was counted in the 2021 gubernatorial recall.
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