The Department of Justice monitored primaries during the 2026 election year.
Posted by The NPR Politics Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 92%
The NPR Politics PodcastOct 26, 2026
The DOJ monitored primaries in 2026, as shown by a DOJ press release on Florida and Wyoming primary monitoring and multiple reports (Reuters, AP, PBS) on monitors deployed during the primary season; the post's own remark that the monitoring was 'pretty uneventful' generally, aside from the Wyoming incident, is consistent with the sources.
What was said
… You will have other watchers there, and so they are not concerned by it necessarily. But that doesn't change the fact that voters maybe, and election officials in some places maybe, and we should note that the DOJ monitored primaries this election year, and generally, that was pretty uneventful, though there was one case in Wyoming where the Republican governor there said that the DOJ monitors were aggressive, said that they seemed to have a disregard for state law regarding elections. …
The NPR Politics Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. The DOJ's own press release from August 18, 2026 states the Civil Rights Division monitored polling sites in Florida and Wyoming for the primaries and had deployed over 75 monitors across five states.[3]
Supports. AP reports that the DOJ said it deployed more than 100 election monitors across hundreds of polling locations during the primary season, and Reuters reports DOJ monitors observed the Minnesota August primary.[1][2]
Supports. PBS reports that most states did not report incidents with primary monitors, with one notable Wyoming incident, consistent with the post's 'pretty uneventful' characterization.[4]
Context. Sources differ on exact counts (75 monitors in one DOJ release, over 100 in AP and later coverage), but both confirm the primary-season monitoring; the count discrepancy does not affect the core assertion.[1][3]
Sources
4 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 primary, 1 tier 2
- 1Thousands of observers are expected to descend on polling places to monitor the vote on Election Dayapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2Monitoring the monitors: US states prepare for surge of Justice Dept election watchersreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3Justice Department to Conduct Election Monitoring in ...justice.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 4How some states are responding to DOJ's plan to send 1,000 ...pbs.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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