The Trump Administration has asked for the Nov. 4 general election voting to be monitored by the Department of Justice in both New Jersey and California.
Many people from the Republican party have asked for all polling sites to be monitored this election cycle due to concerns of fraud or irregularities in reports.
Having the Department of Justice monitor polling sites is a common occurrence, however, it is speculated that President Trump is using this tactic to pursue parts of his political agenda, due to the involvement of the DOJ in past political actions.
The outcome of the general elections in New Jersey and California hold a very important place in the balance of parties in Congress and could be the source of concern from many who are part of the Republican party.
The race between Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli could be the most notable race between Republican and Democratic parties.
An argument for the presence of the DOJ in New Jersey and California would be to counteract potential voter fraud, an issue that the president and many republicans say is rampant.
According to a poll conducted by NPR for last year’s general election, 60% of the population is worried about fraud occurring; however, separate investigations have confirmed that voting fraud is not the reason that elections have been lost in the past and have such a low chance of changing the election outcome that they are discarded as evidence.
The Republican party of New Jersey had previously filed complaints about the methods of protections for the ballot storage areas after the Board of Elections in Passaic County had blocked the use of security cameras in ballot storage areas and refused to require a sign-in log for workers with access to mail-in ballots.
It is unclear why these actions had been taken, however, they fuel the apparent reasoning for the DOJ to monitor New Jersey.
20% of all people aged 18-29 voted by mail during the last general election, many of whom are college students. Students who attend college outside of their home state are required to vote by mail, having no other access to the local elections of their hometowns.
If the right to vote by mail is taken away or reduced, students would have to resort to other methods of voting, or not voting at all.
Even students who go to school in their home state could also face complications if voting by mail is halted. Since many rely on the easy access of voting by mail, students currently do not have to take time off of school or work to go home to vote.
President Trump has said that he plans to end voting by mail entirely. This would impact millions of people who already vote by mail due to lack of proximity to voting locations, busy work or life schedules or lack of access to transportation to voting locations.
The President does not have the authority to tell states how to run their elections, however, Congress does – and they have the ability to change that power for the President.
These decisions have not yet been made, and they will only take place once the election results are finalized. There are measures that can be taken for those who are concerned about their vote being counted.
You can track your ballot at Vote.org if you have any concerns. Make sure you are registered before the correct date based on your home state and that you fill out your ballot correctly and completely, as an incomplete ballot might not be counted.
If you have any questions, students who are a part of the Drew Student Voter Project are available to answer any questions or concerns you may have. They can be contacted by emailing dsvp@drew.edu or by DMing the organization’s Instagram page at @drew.svp.
Allison Cannon is a sophomore who is majoring in psychology and double minoring in Spanish and law, justice and society.
