DOJ not targeting Mass with voting monitors, says U.S. Attorney

Colleen Cronin, Boston Herald on Jul 26, 2026

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U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said the Department of Justice isn’t targeting Massachusetts by sending election monitors to two Bay State cities in September.

“This is not a news story, for anyone to suggest that Massachusetts is getting targeted by this DOJ for any inappropriate reason is just false,” Foley said Sunday during and interview on WCVB’s On the Record.

Federal monitors, which are set to go to Boston and New Bedford, are also being sent to jurisdictions in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Virginia to oversee primary elections.

The DOJ has said monitors are a part of an effort to increase voter confidence and voting accuracy, something Foley agrees with.

“We’re not doing it to smear the state of Massachusetts,” she said.

Monitors have been sent to Massachusetts “numerous times throughout numerous administrations,” she said, adding that monitors are sent to different locations throughout the country and that she’d previously worked as a monitor in Louisiana after Katrina.

“Trying to make sure that elections are conducted with integrity should not be controversial,” Foley said.

Asked if voter fraud was an issue in the Commonwealth, Foley replied, “Whether it’s a problem or not, I don’t think there is any evidence to suggest that it’s a rampant problem in Massachusetts.”

“But,” she continued, “as federal officials, we have the obligation to ensure that the public has the confidence that our elections are run competently and with integrity.”

Foley also spent a portion of the Sunday interview discussing immigration and Trump administration policies, declining to comment on cases or incidents that happened outside of her district, including the fatal shooting of a man in Maine by an ICE officer.

“It was not in our jurisdiction and therefore I have no information about what happened,” she said.

“One of the things I believe which churns this discontent across the country are people assuming facts, and when something serious happens, you can’t assume the facts,” she added, telling WCVB that it was inappropriate to comment on incomplete investigations and ones she doesn’t have the facts for.

“I don’t speculate because to do so is highly irresponsible,” she said.

Foley also declined to comment on the investigations into ex-FBI Director James Comey or New York Attorney General Letitia James, citing the same reasons.

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