Monitoring the monitors: US states prepare for surge of Justice Dept election watchers

When Justice Department (DOJ) staffers arrived in Minnesota this summer to monitor the state’s primary election, they found themselves under scrutiny as well. Minnesota officials deployed about 40 state employees, working in pairs, to track the DOJ lawyers as they travelled through two counties during the August vote. The monitoring effort reflected mounting tensions between Minnesota and the Trump administration over elections and immigration. Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is likely to continue coordinating with the state attorney general’s office to shadow…