The Trump administration has sent letters to election officials in Detroit, Lansing and East Lansing claiming irregularities in the 2024 election and saying it plans to send monitors to polling places in each for the Aug. 4 primary election.
Michigan officials, including Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, called allegations of long lines and other issues in 2024 false, with Nessel reminding the Justice Department in a news release July 6 that “states run elections, not the federal government.”
There is nothing unusual about the Justice Department sending monitors to polling places in Michigan and elsewhere to ensure laws protecting access are being enforced. In 2004, the Bush administration sent monitors to Hamtramck; in 2016, the Obama administration sent them to that city as well as Detroit and Dearborn Heights. The Biden administration in 2024 said it planned to include a half-dozen Michigan cities in its plans for monitoring the general election.
But the Trump administration’s letters come at a more fraught time, with President Donald Trump continuing to insist, without evidence, that the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was fraudulent and threatening to interfere in mail-in voting practices nationwide even as he and allies demand detailed voter records from states, including Michigan, which courts have protected from being released. The FBI is also continuing an investigation into Georgia’s presidential election six years after Trump lost to Biden in that state.
As such, there are deeper anxieties about whether Trump-ordered monitors might attempt to interfere with voting or vote tallies by local officials, especially given that the letters sent raise claims of past failings officials dispute as false rather than as simply sending monitors in to determine that federal rules about voter access are being followed.
In a letter to Winfrey sent June 24, a Trump administration official asked for information about training, staffing and resources. He claimed Justice Department monitors in November 2024 found a lack of provisional ballots in at least one polling location as well as “confusion” over when provisional ballots should be given to voters and problems with accessible voting terminals for voters with physical challenges, saying the “may have contributed to long lines and lengthy waiting periods at some voting locations.”
Winfrey wrote back on Tuesday, July 7, that all of the claims were demonstrably false: Provisional ballots, which are filled out by voters whose names do not appear on a precinct’s registration list and their validity determined later, are no different than any other ballots, Winfrey said, and there were no shortages of them. (Voters do fill out a provisional voter form to receive the ballot.) She also said there was no confusion and other audits indicated no problem with accessible voter machines. “Simply put, there were no lines,” she wrote.
She added that if there were federal monitors at polling places in Detroit, none of them identified themselves with poll officials as required. But even if they had, she said, none of the false claims added up to a “valid pretext” for increasing monitoring in Detroit this year.
Benson and Nessel put out a news release raising similar arguments.
As the state’s chief election officer, Benson, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor this year, defended the state’s election practices and said Trump’s Justice Department “continues to pursue baseless allegations to confuse voters.” That said, she added, “we welcome anyone who wants to − in compliance with the law −- observe Michigan’s elections process.”
That goes for Justice Department officials, who can monitor elections as long as they follow state rules about allowing election workers to do their jobs and not interfere with voting or vote tallying outside of the regulations.
“The courts have been clear time and time again: states run elections, not the federal government,” said Nessel, adding that state law allows residents to volunteer as poll workers or election inspectors and provides for poll monitors, including those from the federal government. “But make no mistake,” she said, “my office stands ready to hold accountable those who attempt to unlawfully interfere with or intimidate Michigan election workers.”
The Justice Department didn’t answer the Free Press’ questions regarding the monitors or respond immediately to the concerns of Michigan officials, but did confirm it is sending monitors to watch the election in three Michigan cities.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on X @tsspangler.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Justice Dept. to send poll monitors to Detroit, Lansing, East Lansing
Reporting by Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
