With the midterm elections approaching, the Department of Justice is preparing to deploy election monitors across the country while Democratic and Republican groups mobilize thousands of volunteers to observe polling places.

The DOJ says it plans to send roughly 1,000 monitors to counties throughout the United States as part of its routine election oversight efforts.

“We will be in all 50 states doing the routine election monitoring the department has done for decades,” a spokesperson from the DOJ told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement.

The department has not yet released the full list of counties where monitors will be deployed and said that information will be shared closer to Election Day.

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The DOJ spokesperson said the federal monitors will have a limited role focused on observation and reporting.

“Every monitor will merely observe and report any potential violations of federal law to the Department, which will be reviewed after Election Day,” the spokesperson said.

The department also emphasized that monitors are not authorized to interfere with voting activity.

“All monitors must meet the same legal and ethical requirements, including that they not interfere with the voting process. Every monitor has the same role: observe for potential violations of federal law and report concerns to the Department, which the Department will review after Election Day and act where appropriate.”

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As the federal government prepares its monitoring operation, Democratic organizations are building a large volunteer presence of their own.

State Democratic parties and coalition groups are training and deploying an estimated 10,000 volunteers to polling locations, according to the Associated Press.

Those volunteers are expected to observe polling places and report activity they view as potentially concerning, including actions involving federal agents.

The effort comes in response to the DOJ’s decision to exercise its authority to send monitors into states across the country.

Common Cause, a grassroots coalition organization, has trained approximately 16,000 volunteers to serve as observers at precincts, according to Suzanne Almeida, the group’s vice president.

A broader Election Protection coalition involving roughly 300 other organizations has trained tens of thousands of additional volunteers.

The Associated Press reported that the coalition is preparing for what organizers describe as the possibility of “Election Day confusion.”

“It will actually take all of us if some of the threats we are most worried about come to pass,” Almeida told the AP.

The volunteer operations are not limited to Democratic-aligned organizations.

The Republican National Committee has also trained a large number of volunteers to monitor activity at polling locations.

According to the AP, the RNC has trained approximately 22,000 volunteers for deployment around the country.

The competing efforts mean that voters in many jurisdictions could encounter federal monitors, Democratic-aligned volunteers, Republican observers, and independent coalition groups at or near polling places on Election Day.

The DOJ has maintained that its monitors are operating under the same legal and ethical rules that have governed federal election oversight in prior cycles.

The department says monitors will not be tasked with confronting voters or intervening directly in the voting process.

Instead, they will document potential violations of federal law and submit those concerns for review after Election Day.

The Democratic volunteer effort, meanwhile, appears focused heavily on observing the conduct of election officials and federal personnel while reporting incidents that organizers believe may create confusion or interfere with voting.

Republican volunteers are also expected to watch polling activity closely as the party continues emphasizing election integrity and compliance with state election laws.

The scale of the preparations reflects the level of scrutiny surrounding the upcoming midterms.

Federal officials are expanding monitoring, while political parties and outside organizations are preparing tens of thousands of volunteers to independently watch what happens at polling locations.

With Election Day approaching, the competing monitoring efforts are likely to become a major part of the broader debate over election administration, federal oversight, and public confidence in the voting process.

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