The White House wants to remove minority rights monitors from the elections.

The Trump administration is considering cutting funding for a federal election monitoring program designed to protect the rights of minorities to vote, it said. CBS News sources familiar with the situation.

The Federal Observer Program, mandated by the Voting Rights Act and established in 1966, is operated by the Administration for Personnel Management and is administered jointly with the Department of Justice.

Neutral observers are deployed to polling stations to ensure that voters do not face discrimination in the elections based on race, language barriers, or disabilities.

Observers, recruited and trained by the Administration for Personnel Management, are required to observe, listen, and take notes, but not to interfere with the voting process. They then report their findings to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

According to sources, the White House is exploring the possibility of cutting spending on this program. The discussions are taking place ahead of the midterm congressional elections this November.

Republicans fear losing control of the House of Representatives or the Senate. This is likely why far-right Republican activists are pressuring Trump to declare a national emergency to establish federal control over the conduct of US elections.

On the subject: Trump said he will not sign any legislation until Congress changes the US election system.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed lawsuits against more than two dozen states seeking to obtain confidential voter roll data. This data could then be obtained by the Department of Homeland Security and used for criminal prosecution and immigration enforcement.

The federal observer program is relatively inexpensive—Congress allocates several million dollars annually for it, a former federal official said.

A representative of the Administration for Personnel Management confirmed that the program is being evaluated. Since 2013, it has been used only in a few locations mandated by court orders. According to him, the cost of monitors in these areas has increased from approximately $2,2 million to $2,5 million.

The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Its purpose was to prevent states with a long history of discriminatory voting practices from disenfranchising Black voters, especially Black voters.

Initially, the Justice Department used a special formula to identify states and municipalities that had previously engaged in discriminatory practices. Those that met these criteria were required by law to obtain prior approval from the Justice Department before making any changes to their election laws.

At one point, the Justice Department deployed federal observers trained by the Office of Personnel Management to more than 100 counties across the country on Election Day. During the 2012 election, more than 1000 federal observers were deployed to polling places across the country.

Much of this law was effectively gutted by the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder. The court ruled that the formula the Justice Department used to identify states and counties with a history of discrimination was outdated and unconstitutional.

In 2016, more than 300 federal observers were deployed to polling stations, and during the 2024 elections, approximately 250 were deployed.

Today, the Justice Department relies heavily on its own election monitoring program, which sends lawyers from the Civil Rights Division to polling places where federal observers cannot be assigned.

A Justice Department spokesman said the agency has no plans to end its own surveillance program within the Civil Rights Division.

If the White House cuts funding for the federal observer program, it would be another blow to the agency's ability to protect Americans' rights under the Voting Rights Act.

While the Department of Justice has its own monitoring program, the federal monitor program has historically been considered preferable for several reasons.

First, federal observers are considered neutral and do not work for the Justice Department division that simultaneously litigates against counties and states on voting rights issues.

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Secondly, by law, federal observers are allowed to be located directly inside polling stations.

In recent years, Republican-controlled states such as Texas and Florida have barred Justice Department observers from entering polling places.

Furthermore, even when the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division was fully staffed, it often lacked the personnel to cover all aspects of election monitoring, forcing the agency to seek volunteers from other parts of the department.

The Civil Rights Division has now lost more than 75% of its former staff.

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