Federal DOJ Sending Election Observers to Wisconsin

Voters stand in line Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, outside the Gates of Heaven Synagogue in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday it would be monitoring elections in all 50 states, including Wisconsin, with federal election monitors deployed in Milwaukee and Madison.

That’s nothing out of the ordinary, according to Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe.

“In Wisconsin we’ve always had federal observers from U.S. DOJ,” Wolfe said.

She said federal authorities contact municipalities to say they will be sending observers to their community, although they do not specify the polling place. She said it is not unusual for Madison and Milwaukee, the state’s largest cities, to be the focus.

“It does not sound like anything unusual in terms of how that will be administered,” Wolfe said.

She said municipalities are also told the number of observers who will be sent to the community. Wolfe said this year she believes that fewer than 10 DOJ observers have been assigned to the state, which she said tracks with past practice.

 Paulina Gutiérrez, Milwaukee Elections Commission executive director, said DOJ and Congressional observers are at Milwaukee polls today and there have been no reported problems.

“We met with them early in the week last week and they agreed to follow Wisconsin observer rules,” Gutiérrez said. We asked if we could meet with them afterwards, and they accepted that.”

Gutiérrez said Congressional observers have more access than state observers, and staff is trained on how to handle those situations.

“Every election we engage with our observers and our chiefs, and … 99.9 percent of the time we de-escalate and the voting is not interfered with,” she said.

Federal DOJ is sending election observers to Wisconsin. State election officials say that’s nothing unusual. was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.