The U.S. Justice Department will send election monitors nationwide, including Miami-Dade and Broward counties, federal officials announced Friday.
The Justice Department says it will monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in 86 jurisdictions in 27 states for the Nov. 5 general election. Two other Florida counties are on their list: Orange and Osceola, which are in the Orlando area.
Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd sent a letter Friday to the DOJ that Florida law lists who is allowed inside the state's polling places and that Justice Department officials are not included.
Byrd said Florida is sending its own monitors to the four jurisdictions the Justice Department plans to send staff to and they will “ensure there is no interference with the voting process.”
The move by DOJ officials is not the first time they have sent election monitors to South Florida.
In 2020, under then President Donald Trump, the Justice Department dispatched election monitors to six Florida counties.
For the 2022 mid-term elections, the DOJ also sent monitors to Florida. The DeSantis also then warned federal monitors would not be allowed inside polling places.
The agency said it regularly sends staff to counties around the U.S. to monitor compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act and other civil rights statutes related to elections and voting.
READ MORE: Early voting begins: How and where to vote in South Florida
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