Federal election monitors fanned out across Los Angeles County on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as part of what the Department of Justice called its largest monitoring effort in history.

The DOJ said it deployed approximately 1,000 monitors and observers to all 50 states for the first time. Los Angeles County is one of four California counties on the DOJ's list of monitored jurisdictions, along with Alameda, Sacramento and San Diego counties.

Beverly Hills voters cast ballots within L.A. County's system. The DOJ did not release precinct-level details showing which specific vote centers would receive monitors.

The effort is coordinated by the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. Monitors include personnel from multiple DOJ divisions, U.S. Attorney's Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, according to the department's announcement.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement that the department is "pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner."

Pushback from state, county officials

The deployment has drawn sharp criticism from California leaders. L.A. County Registrar Dean Logan said the DOJ "has taken a confrontational, adversarial approach," according to the Los Angeles Times. Logan characterized federal subpoenas issued to his office as threats and intimidation, ABC7 reported.

"We want every eligible voter in L.A. County to show up to vote, and we want them to know we're going to provide them with a safe and secure opportunity to do that," Logan said, according to ABC7.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said California is deploying its own election lawyers and volunteers to polling locations. On an Oct. 28 appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Newsom said the state had been running tabletop exercises and was sending out 134 election law attorneys, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Voting-rights groups raise concerns

Some voting-rights groups, including the NAACP, said they believe the deployment could suppress turnout and disenfranchise voters, particularly from minority groups, USA Today reported. In states with closely contested Senate races, monitors were assigned to cities and counties with disproportionately high levels of Black and Hispanic residents, according to U.S. Census data cited by USA Today.

The deployment follows a primary season in which the DOJ sent more than 100 monitors across hundreds of polling locations, according to LAist. At least one placement drew complaints. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, called the behavior of two monitors during that state's primary "a bit aggressive" and "irregular," LAist reported.

DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels said monitors are trained to comply with federal law and will not "interfere with the voting process," according to LAist.

Court battles over California ballots

The monitor deployment comes after federal judges repeatedly blocked the Trump administration's efforts to force California to set aside ballots from approximately 20,000 voters the administration alleges may be noncitizens, the Los Angeles Times reported. On Oct. 30, U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson barred the administration from demanding that poll workers set aside those ballots or threatening them with criminal sanctions.

Residents who encounter problems at the polls can call the DOJ's voting-rights hotline at 1-800-253-3931 or email [email protected].