ATLANTA — The U.S. Department of Justice is sending election monitors to multiple counties in Georgia, but the full scale of the monitoring effort wasn’t fully clear until Tuesday.
For the first time in national history, USDOJ is sending monitors to every state.
Channel 2’s Richard Elliot spoke to election officials in the Georgia after the news about monitoring came out. The six counties in Georgia where federal observers are being sent are all known as Democratic strongholds.
The announcement came amid plans by the Atlanta-based Carter Center to send their own observers, but the federal effort eclipses local efforts from the Georgia non-profit.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Channel 2 Action News reported when it was confirmed USDOJ was sending agents to several counties in Georgia, most of which are in the metro Atlanta area.
On Tuesday morning, USDOJ released a list of the counties or parishes it was monitoring in each state.
“Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, said in a statement. “I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner.”
MORE GEORGIA ELECTION COVERAGE:
- Georgia Election 2026: Live updates as voters hit the polls
- Georgia election 2026: Fulton asks to rescan more than 1,000 early voting ballots
- Georgia Election 2026: Voter’s guide to Election Day for Governor, Congress and other key races
- Balance of Power: Who will control Congress in 2026 midterm elections?
- Georgia amendments: What do the questions on 2026 ballot mean?
- Georgia election 2026: What to expect on election night
In Georgia, the counties being monitored are Bibb, Chatham, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties.
Elliot spoke exclusively with Georgia U.S. Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock when the news came out in October, who said he was concerned that the federal government may be “up to no good.”
“So we’ll be monitoring these monitors. If monitors are there to make sure that everybody has their voice and their vote, great,” Warnock said ahead of Election Day. “My concern is that they’re not trying to meddle with the election.”
While Warnock was concerned, outgoing Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger told Elliot at the time that he wasn’t worried.
“A monitor is a monitor. It’s the Department of Justice, and, you know, we have a transparent process, feel really good about it,” Raffensperger said.
A full list of communities where monitors have been sent can be found here.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2026 Cox Media Group
