Virginia Beach election officials on Friday are scheduled to decide whether federal election observers can watch voting here on Election Day.
The city’s electoral board is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. and expected to discuss and act on a request for neutral observers from the U.S. Department of Justice. The meeting will include public comment from speakers who sign up in advance.
The board will also consider a request for neutral observers made by the Advancement Project, a nonprofit civil rights organization, and three other organizations including the NAACP. The observers hope to be where DOJ is.
“They want to observe the DOJ,” Christine Lewis, Virginia Beach’s director of voter registration and elections, said Thursday of the Advancement Project’s request.
The Advancement Project and the NAACP sued DOJ earlier this month over its plan to send 1,000 poll monitors to spots around the U.S., which the lawsuit says could intimidate voters, including voters of color.
DOJ met with city and local elections officials Thursday. Lewis said election officials will work with the electoral board’s decision and anticipates “business as usual” on Election Day.
DOJ did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.
Nanette Miller, chair of the electoral board in Virginia Beach, said she expects perhaps four observers from DOJ and said observers cannot interfere with voting. She did not believe DOJ has had observers in the city before. Observers from local political parties are not unusual.
“The elections are going to be safe,” Miller said. “The elections are going to be business as usual. There are just more people who want to see what’s going on.”
Virginia Beach is within Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, which will help determine the balance of power in Congress. U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, a Republican, faces a challenge from former Rep. Elaine Luria, a Democrat who previously held the seat.
“As far as I know, we were picked out of a hat, but it certainly makes sense,” Miller said about the 2nd District contest. “This is a highly watched race.”
WHRO asked for copies of correspondence requesting neutral observers, but they were not available Thursday. The request from the Advancement Project was made on behalf of itself, the NAACP, New Virginia Majority and VA Organizing, according to minutes of an Oct. 23 meeting of the electoral board.
That day, the board discussed the requests for neutral observers and determined the groups must provide names of observers and a list of precincts they want to visit before approval.
Carmen Daugherty, executive director of the Advancement Project, said the organization has been concerned about where DOJ is sending observers, including places with Democratic voters and voters of color. They want to have observers there, too.
“It felt important for us to ensure free and fair and accessible elections, that we are in places where the Department of Justice will be to ensure that especially brown and Black communities are able to vote free from intimidation.”