DOJ Sends Election Monitors to Yellowstone County
Montana officials say they were not notified of the federal monitors until a reporter contacted them.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Elections
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The U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 3 that it is sending election monitors to Yellowstone County, Montana, as part of a nationwide effort involving more than 1,000 employees. Yellowstone County Election Administrator Dayna Causby said she had heard nothing about monitors coming to the county.
Why it matters
The monitoring effort affects how Montana's county and state election offices coordinate with federal officials on Election Day. The lack of advance notice to local and state officials raises questions about communication between federal and state election authorities in Montana.
The DOJ press release is the sole documented source for the monitoring announcement, and state officials confirmed they received no advance notice. Montana was among 17 states that provided voter registration data, though the Secretary of State's office said the data was limited to a public statewide voter registration list.
The players
U.S. Department of Justice
The federal department responsible for enforcing federal law, which has sent election monitors to states across the country under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Dayna Causby
The Yellowstone County Election Administrator who said she had heard nothing about monitors coming to the county.
Richie Melby
A spokesperson for the Montana Secretary of State who first learned of the monitoring plans from a reporter.
Harmeet K. Dhillon
The Assistant Attorney General who said election integrity has been a top priority for the Administration and the Division.
The details
The DOJ said its personnel would maintain contact with state and local election officials throughout Election Day and described the effort as the largest monitoring operation in its history. The Montana Secretary of State's Office learned of the plans only after a reporter contacted it with a link to the DOJ release.
Timeline
2024: DOJ sent election monitors to Blaine County, Montana.
November 2: NBC News reported that 17 states had provided voter registration data to the DOJ.
November 3: DOJ announced monitors for Yellowstone County and nationwide.
Big Picture
The Justice Department has deployed election monitors under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in both Democratic and Republican administrations, and the 2024 Blaine County deployment in Montana is a recent precedent. The Yellowstone County announcement continues that pattern, though it comes with a notification gap that Montana officials said they had not seen before.
Voters in Yellowstone County may see federal personnel at polling locations on Election Day. Election officials in the county and state have had to respond to federal monitoring they were not told about in advance.
The takeaway
Federal election monitoring depends on coordination between federal, state, and county officials, and this announcement shows that coordination was not complete in Montana. Readers following Yellowstone County's election should watch how local and state offices respond on Election Day.
Further reading
For more on how federal and state officials share election oversight, see Elections coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Missoulian.
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