Department of Justice monitoring elections in 5 Michigan cities

Huntington Place election officials get ready for Tuesday's ballot count

In the meantime, those on either side of the big ballot items are making their final push going down to the wire.

(FOX 2) - Five cities in Michigan will have federal authorities monitoring polls during election day to ensure voting rights laws are upheld and obeyed.

Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Pontiac, and Southfield were all named in a release from the U.S. Department of Justice that said it planned to monitor voting rights laws in 64 different jurisdictions.

The DOJ's procedures Tuesday are part of a long-held tradition by the office to protect the rights of voters, the department said. The office also has a civil rights division that will be fielding complaints from voters about possible violations at the polls.

"We are coming at this from all angles to make sure people feel confident in their right and accessibility to the ballot box," U.S, Attorney Dawn Ison said.

The monitoring is happening in cities across 24 states.

Among the personnel who are being dispatched to the cities are those at the Civil Rights Division from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Their responsibility is to ensure federal voting rights laws including the National Voter Registration Act, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, and the Civil Rights Act are followed.

Feds watch Southfield, four other Michigan areas to ensure a secure election

The Department of Justice has had federal monitors are five Michigan cities on Election Day to make sure every vote is being safely counted - including Southfield, Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, and Grand Rapids.

"We are looking for any evidence of election fraud, intimidating voters, bribing voters, ballot stuffing any federal statute that deals with voting we are looking for any evidence of that. And if we find it we have no problem pursuing a case," Ison said.

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In 2020 protesters, stormed the, then TCF Center, in Detroit, demanding a stop to the vote, and questioning the ballot counting process. Since then, there have been heightened alerts by some over-election integrity.

"I think everyone has responded to that, particularly with TCF, so I believe the entire city law enforcement, all of us are on alert," Ison said. "We are going to protect the integrity of this election."

If a member of the public sees possible violations, they can call the department at 800-253-3931 or file a complaint at https://civilrights.justice.gov/. The DOJ does ask that anyone who notices disruption at a polling place should report it immediately to local election officials. If threats of violence or intimidation occur, they're asked to call 911.

The complaints should be later reported to the DOJ after police are called.