Federal poll watchers are being sent to Maricopa County and 3 other Arizona counties.

PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice is sending election observers to 27 states, including Arizona, for the November election.

In Arizona, federal officers will enforce voting and civil rights laws in Apache, Maricopa, Pima and Yuma counties.

The observers will include members of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management. These employees will be tasked with communicating with state and local election officials throughout Election Day.

On Election Day, the Civil Rights Division will review questions and concerns about possible violations of federal law. These can be submitted online or by calling them directly.

In total, it is planned to conduct monitoring in 86 jurisdictions. GOP lawmakers in Missouri and Florida are working to block the Justice Department’s access to polling places, according to the Washington Post.

In Texas, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State told CNN that federal observers are not allowed at polling places.

In 2020, the feds monitored three Arizona counties: Coconino, Maricopa and Navajo, but then sent monitors to only 18 states. The Washington Post reports that the number in 2024 will be the highest in two decades.

Election security has been a top priority for many due to polarized political rhetoric, concerns about election security and growing threats of political violence.

Earlier this week, Maricopa County election officials joined law enforcement officials to discuss efforts to protect polling places, workers, and the integrity and security of ballots following apparent political violence.

In recent weeks, a Valley man intentionally set fire to a U.S. Postal Service mailbox in downtown Phoenix. Although the suspect said his actions were not politically motivated, authorities said more than a dozen ballots were damaged in the fire.

In Oregon, hundreds of ballots were damaged after a drop box caught fire on two separate occasions.

Hacking local election systems in the United States would not be easy, and secretly altering votes on a scale large enough to change the outcome of a presidential race would be impossible, election officials said, thanks to decentralized systems, paper records of nearly all ballots, comprehensive reviews, due process and decades of work by American election officials, volunteers and citizens.

Foreign actors and domestic extremist groups looking to interfere in next week’s elections could target a much weaker link: voters’ perceptions and emotions.

Those intent on undermining confidence in American democracy won’t have to change their votes if they can convince enough Americans to distrust the results of the vote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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