Federal election monitors from the U.S. Department of Justice will be at Franklin County polling places on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, but they will have to stay outside the 100-foot restricted zone around each polling place entrance, county election officials say. Franklin County Board of Elections Director Antone White said on Oct. 30 that county officials met with the Justice Department about a week before the election and explained Ohio’s perimeter rule, and the department did not object and agreed to remain outside it, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The monitors are part of a Justice Department effort to send 1,000 officials to polling places in every state, White told The Columbus Dispatch. Franklin is one of three Ohio counties receiving the federal monitors; the others are Cuyahoga and Medina counties. White told The Columbus Dispatch he did not know how many monitors are headed to Franklin County, and a Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s request for comment on Oct. 30.
“What voters need to remember is you’re probably not going to realize who these people are,” White told The Columbus Dispatch. “And their presence doesn’t change anything about the voting process, doesn’t change eligibility requirements, etc.” The monitors will be in plain clothes, White told The Columbus Dispatch, and they may speak with voters outside the 100-foot perimeter who choose to talk with them…