The Justice Department announced election monitoring in Franklin County on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as part of what it described as its largest monitoring operation.

Franklin County is one of three Ohio counties where the DOJ stationed observers. Cuyahoga and Medina counties also received monitors, according to the DOJ's announcement. Upper Arlington and Grandview Heights voters cast ballots at Franklin County polling sites.

The department deployed approximately 1,000 monitors across all 50 states, a first. The DOJ sent monitors to 64 jurisdictions across 24 states for the 2022 midterms, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.

Franklin County Board of Elections Director Antone White said he did not receive a specific reason for the deployment. "This is typical, they send out monitors across multiple jurisdictions," White told ABC 6. It had been more than a decade since federal monitors last visited the county, ABC 6 reported.

The monitors were expected to wear plain clothes and carry credentials, according to WOSU. They were not permitted inside polling places. Ohio law required them to observe from behind 100-foot campaign barriers.

"They may not impede voters, they may not interfere in the process whatsoever, they may observe, that's about it," Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said, according to ABC 6.

The monitors checked for compliance with federal voting rights laws, including the Voting Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and statutes prohibiting voter intimidation, the DOJ said. White said language-access issues were unlikely to be a focus locally because Franklin County does not have to provide ballots in multiple languages.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division called it "the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history" in the DOJ announcement.

The deployment drew mixed reactions. Some voting-rights groups, including the NAACP, said they believe the expanded federal presence could suppress turnout, particularly among minority voters, USA Today reported. The NAACP sued the DOJ in early October for records about the program, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. A federal judge denied the NAACP's request for an emergency order, though the lawsuit remains pending.

Ohio State University professor Steven Huefner told NBC4 that the presence of monitors is not a major cause for concern but acknowledged unease. "There is a concern this election that the role of the monitors … is different this time and that it is instead to sow the seeds of potential challenges to the outcomes of the election," Huefner said.

Early reports from the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition on Nov. 3 indicated no significant disruptions at polling locations statewide, according to the Ohio Capital Journal's live updates. Long lines were reported but moving.

Voters with questions about federal voting rights can call the DOJ's election hotline at 1-800-253-3931 or email [email protected].