Salt Lake County will have at least one federal election monitor at the polls on Nov. 3, part of a nationwide U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) deployment that will put roughly 1,000 monitors in all 50 states.

Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Utah's chief election officer, said she learned of the plan in an Oct. 21 letter from the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. She told reporters Oct. 22 that the department gave her assurances about how monitors will behave.

"They won't be approaching voters. They won't be wearing any sort of insignia," Henderson said, according to Utah News Dispatch.

Draper sits in Salt Lake County, so voters heading to local polling places could encounter a federal observer. Henderson said most people will not realize anything is different.

What monitors can and can't do

A letter from DOJ Civil Rights Division trial attorney Jake Bachand to Henderson spelled out the rules. Monitors may only observe and take notes. They must dress in business casual clothing with no DOJ uniforms or pins. They cannot talk to voters inside polling places and cannot carry firearms, according to the letter.

Monitors will identify themselves to poll workers and present government identification. If they spot an issue, they report it to a team lead, not to voters, the letter states.

The monitors will check for compliance with federal voting rights laws, including disability access under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to the letter.

Henderson welcomes scrutiny

Henderson, a Republican, has clashed with the Trump administration after refusing to hand over voter registration data containing driver's license and Social Security numbers, according to Utah News Dispatch. She said she is uncertain why the DOJ chose Utah but noted other states not involved in election litigation are also receiving monitors.

"I welcome any kind of scrutiny that the administration wants to give to the state of Utah. I am confident in our processes," Henderson said, according to KUTV.

Henderson said her office sent county clerks and the public instructions on state laws that apply to all election monitors, including federal ones. Utah is not planning to deploy state monitors to watch the federal monitors, unlike Minnesota, according to Utah News Dispatch.

About six monitors for Utah

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon told KUTV in an Oct. 22 interview that roughly six lawyers or paralegals will watch for federal election law violations in Utah. Dhillon said the deployment is not tied to Henderson personally.

"People should not even notice there's an observer," Dhillon said, according to KUTV.

Parties split on the move

Utah's political parties offered different takes. Utah Republican Party Chair Rob Axson told FOX 13 News on Oct. 22 he had no concerns, saying poll watching is routine.

Utah Democratic Party Chair Brian King called the monitors an intimidation tactic. "They're trying to intimidate individuals that they think are less likely to support their candidates … to stay home," King said, according to KUTV.

Dhillon called that assertion "silly," pointing to decades of DOJ monitoring, according to KUTV.

What Draper voters should know

Henderson encouraged voters who are uneasy about in-person polling to fill out ballots at home and use a drop box before Election Day.

"If we have more people voting early and getting those ballots processed early, we'll have more robust results on election night anyway. So vote early," she said, according to Utah News Dispatch.

DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels said the full list of monitored locations will not be released until Nov. 3, according to States Newsroom reporting published Oct. 28.