Expanded Monitoring and Security Efforts Shape the 2026 U.S. Midterm Election

On Election Day, the Associated Press will tabulate results for nearly 7,000 races, deploying about 4,000 journalists and 1,000 vote-entry clerks. The Department of Justice is sending more than 1,000 federal election monitors to all 50 states, and six Washington counties have accepted Governor Bob Ferguson’s offer to station unarmed, plain-clothes National Guard members at polling sites. The AP’s new “Voter Poll” will interview roughly 75,000 early voters and 25,000 voters at polling places, with broadcast partners ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and NBC assisting.

PBS News Hour

The AP has counted U.S. elections for 178 years and called the 2020 presidential race for Joe Biden four days after polls closed. In 2022 the DOJ deployed a modest number of monitors; the 2026 deployment more than doubles that footprint. President Donald Trump has asserted the election system is “rigged” and issued over 100 subpoenas seeking voter-roll data, heightening security concerns. A 2024 arson attack on a drop box in Vancouver, Washington, further intensified local protective measures.

PBS News Hour

• AP coverage: ~7,000 races, 4,000 journalists, 1,000 clerks.

AP announces 2026 midterm election plans

• Voter Poll: 75,000 early-voter interviews; 25,000 on-site interviews in 15 states.

PBS News Hour

• DOJ monitors: >1,000 observers nationwide, limited to observation and reporting.

KUOW NPR

• National Guard: deployed in Clark, Island, King, Pierce, Snohomish and Thurston counties; mission described as “Neighborhood Watch.”

KUOW NPR

• Campaign spending: >$12 million planned for each of Michigan’s 7th and North Carolina’s 1st districts; 70 districts see six-figure ad buys from both parties.

NPR

David Scott, the AP’s vice president for U.S. news, confirmed the scale of the monitor deployment, while Governor Ferguson’s letter framed the Guard’s role as supplemental “eyes and ears” rather than an enforcement presence.

KUOW NPR

• “We like to say that what we do at AP on election night is the single largest act of journalism there is,” — David Scott.

PBS News Hour

• “What we actually found was that the model would identify fraud even on datasets intentionally built not to contain any fraud,” — Jessica Huseman, votebeat editorial director.

PBS News Hour

• “It was horrible. It was horrible. It was a direct attack on democracy,” — County Auditor Greg Kimsey.

KUOW NPR

Votebeat’s investigation with ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s claim of removing “more than 6,500 non-citizens” from voter rolls to be misleading, noting many flagged individuals were U.S. citizens. The precise number of eligible voters incorrectly removed nationwide remains unverified, and no comprehensive audit has been released.

PBS News Hour

• DOJ monitors will observe polling places on Election Day and report any suspected violations to Washington, D.C.

KUOW NPR

• National Guard “Neighborhood Watch” missions begin later this week in the six Washington counties that accepted the governor’s offer.

KUOW NPR

• The AP’s live video coverage will stream from key battleground states, and Voter Poll results will be released after the polls close, offering demographic and issue-based analysis of the electorate.

PBS News Hour

These coordinated monitoring and reporting measures represent an unprecedented scale of transparency and oversight for a U.S. midterm election.

PBS News Hour