This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Michigan’s free newsletter here.
Despite fears that federal monitors from the U.S. Department of Justice might in some way disrupt Michigan’s primary election, officials from around the state say things went smoothly.
Federal monitors — who are typically attorneys employed by the U.S. Department of Justice — were stationed in Detroit, Lansing, East Lansing, and Hamtramck on Tuesday.
The Department of Justice, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, has routinely sent observers to monitor elections in Michigan and other states to ensure voters are able to cast ballots freely. However, many people were more suspicious of their motives this year given President Donald Trump’s preoccupation with election administration and Michigan Republicans’ calls for “comprehensive oversight” of the state’s elections.
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According to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the monitors’ mandate this year was to root out “problems with the integrity of elections.” If they found any, it wasn’t immediately clear Tuesday.
Instead, election officials said monitors were polite and unobtrusive as they moved from one polling place to the next, asking a few questions about assistance technology designs for voters with disabilities and provisional ballots. Importantly, officials Votebeat spoke with on Tuesday said monitors did not interfere with election proceedings.
“There were no real issues, and we were pleased,” Daniel Baxter, Detroit’s director of elections, said after polls closed.
Two monitors, seen at Detroit’s Bagley Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon, declined to take questions from Votebeat. They sat in the middle of a small gymnasium that held multiple precincts and watched the room silently before politely saying goodbye to poll workers on their way out.
Other polling places visited by federal monitors had similar experiences. Pamela Phelps, chair of a precinct in Hamtramck, told Votebeat that the monitors who visited her polling place earlier in the day were “really nice.”
“They introduced themselves and told us they were from Washington,” Phelps said. “They sat back there in their spots, and they had no problems.”
Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum said that, when the monitors were first announced, no one was quite sure what to expect.
The Department of Justice’s letters informing Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing about the monitors also requested documents such as such as precinct lists, training materials, and maps from them and alleged that the cities did not comply with federal election law during the 2024 presidential election, leading to long lines. Officials from those communities have denied the allegations.
“The fact that the DOJ felt it was necessary in the first place, it served to cast doubt,” Byrum said of the monitors in her county, which includes parts of Lansing and East Lansing. “Now, tomorrow, they can speak with authority having been here — is that going to lend credit to future claims, even when they’re nonsense?”
Other officials, though, were reassured by how uneventful the primary was. Kim Bush, a spokesperson for the Michigan attorney general’s office, said that, as the state looks ahead to the November election, she didn’t “see any concerns” based on monitors’ behavior Tuesday.
Michigan was not the only state to be visited by federal monitors this summer. The Department of Justice also sent monitors to observe Arizona’s primary, which took place on July 21. They visited three counties in the state, including Maricopa — a key swing jurisdiction that encompasses Phoenix, the state’s most populous city.
There, like in Michigan, the visits from federal monitors were uneventful.
Perhaps most importantly, voters and poll workers said the monitors didn’t appear to scare anyone away. Bill Hunts, a voter on Detroit’s west side, said that he had heard about the monitors but still showed up to vote because he wanted his voice heard.
“I need a say,” he said. “And I like voting.”
Sasha Hupka contributed reporting.
Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at hharding@votebeat.org. Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization covering local election integrity and voting access. Sign up for their newsletters here.
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