The U.S. Department of Justice has sent what it calls election integrity monitors to six counties in Missouri and Kansas.
In Kansas, monitors have been dispatched to Johnson, Wyandotte and Sedgwick counties, according to the DOJ.
In Missouri, polling places in Jackson and Clay counties and the city of St. Louis are being monitored.
“I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement.
The Kansas secretary of state’s office said eight DOJ observers had been dispatched to Wyandotte County, three to Sedgwick County and two to Johnson County.
That didn’t sit well with some members of the community.
“When more than half of all federal election observers assigned to Kansas are sent to one county, it raises legitimate concerns about disparate treatment and the message being sent to our community,” state Rep. Melissa Oropeza from Kansas City, Kansas, said in a statement.
Oropeza said on Tuesday morning that she had been in contact with poll watchers and they reported no interference from DOJ monitors so far.
Kansas officials have been aware of the DOJ monitoring plan since last week.
“We would be naive to not be prepared,” Gov. Laura Kelly said at the time. “They will be sending people into Kansas. We know where they’re going. We know how many are coming. The secretary of state’s office has already worked with them to put some boundaries and say, ‘You can go here, but you can’t go there.’”
The DOJ told the St. Louis Board of Elections that its monitors will remain outside and 50 feet or more away from polling places, St. Louis Public Radio reported.
They are to identify themselves as representatives of the federal agency and may ask voters leaving the polls to talk about their voting experience.
