MAGA resorting to voter intimidation? What to expect
The Department of Justice announced it will be monitoring elections in 6 U.S. counties but many believe it to be a ploy to allow voter intimidation from ICE agents
Public Notice reports the Department of Justice has confirmed they will be monitoring elections in five counties in California and Passaic County in New Jersey. The other five counties in question are Orange, Los Angeles, Kern, Fresno, and Riverside County in California.
The reason these counties, in particular, had been chosen is never stated by the DOJ or Attorney General Pam Bondi, who issued the statement, other than that it is done to “ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”
Given recent news, it can be speculated that the counties in California were chosen in response to Proposition 50, otherwise known as the Election Rigging Response Act. What Proposition 50 allows is for California to redraw its Congressional maps mid-decade. This was proposed in response to Texas and other conservative states’ proposing similar acts, which many criticize as enabling gerrymandering. Some GOP parties in states such as Utah are taking steps to abolish anti-gerrymandering laws in their state.
This leaves Passaic County as the only outlier, as it is located in New Jersey and has no connection to Proposition 50. With that being said, Passaic County is a key location in the New Jersey gubernatorial race. The polls show Mikie Sherill of the Democrat party leading the race by 10 points against her opponent, Jack Ciattarelli of the Republican Party. The reason why the DOJ may want to interfere is that President Donald Trump had endorsed Ciattarelli in May 2025. Stating that he “is the Republican Candidate who is best positioned to STAND TALL against the Radical Left Democrats and, most importantly, ensure a Big Victory in this Very Important Gubernatorial Election.”
One thing all these counties have in common is that a large percentage of voters are Hispanic. Hispanics/Latinos comprise the largest ethnic group in Passaic County, with a population of over 227,000, compared to the white population of nearly 200,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. You see similar results for the counties in California, with all but two of these counties forming the Los Angeles Metropolitan area.
The Trump Administration’s popularity within these communities has taken a hit, given recent actions through Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), in which tactics of racial profiling have been used to justify excessive force and threats of deportation towards members of the Hispanic community.
It is for this reason that elected officials are condemning the DOJ, as they believe the Trump Administration is planning on having ICE officers present at polling places to intimidate voters. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California will deploy state observers in polling locations in the listed counties as a countermeasure. Mind you, ICE agents are the same people who stand outside courtrooms waiting to arrest people trying to go through the proper channels to acquire citizenship. The DOJ is vague about who will be monitoring these elections. Trump has been calling for an intimidating law enforcement presence at the polls. In 2020, while running for re-election, he stated, “We’re going to have sheriffs, and we’re going to have law enforcement, and we’re going to have, hopefully, US attorneys, and we’re going to have everybody and attorney generals (sic),” at polling places to monitor for voting fraud. Despite Trump’s claims that voter fraud is a huge issue in this country, statistics show it is practically non-existent, occurring at a rate of less than 1%. It was never about fair elections; it was about control, and there is a reason why Trump is trying so hard to tighten his grip and retain control, because once the Democrats win the House in the upcoming midterms, he is most likely facing mass impeachment.
While not entirely related to Passaic County, there are accusations of a Private Investigation company in Atlantic City, New Jersey, committing voter intimidation, after registered democrats of South Asian descent reported being contacted at their homes, work, and even via texts from investigators within the firm claiming to be looking into voter fraud. From this and the recent actions of the DOJ, one could see a trend of conservatives attempting to discredit non-white voters.