DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - With Election Day just days away, the Justice Department has warned local election officials about anyone who may be posing as impostors to monitor election procedures.
Friday was another busy day of early in-person voting at polling sites across Miami-Dade. So far, the lead-up to Election Day has gone off without a hitch, officials said.
“Everything is running very smoothly in Miami-Dade County,” said Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia.
Despite everything running smoothly so far, Garcia told 7News the Department of Justice has been warning municipalities across the country to watch for impostors posing as federal election monitors.
“We did receive a report that, in other places, people had been pretending to be DOJ and they would never do that,” said Garcia.
Up to now, officials say there have been no reports of impostors showing up at any polling places in Miami-Dade.
Though this election cycle has been incident-free in that regard, there has been a recent voter intimidation arrest made in South Florida.
Earlier this month, Brazilians in South Florida cast their votes for their country’s election locally.
As voters went to cast their ballots for their home country’s election at the college’s Kendall campus, 46-year-old Danilo Alves Silva accosted several of them, posing as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, according to police.
“That person ended up getting arrested. You’re not ever supposed to impersonate a police officer,” said Garcia.
Officials have repeatedly said any law enforcement present inside polling locations are assigned specifically to provide security and to assist with heavy traffic.
“The police officers that we have, we have some here; they’re here to make sure that our building is safe, because we have all the ballots that are there; also we have traffic,” said Garcia.
Garcia added that poll workers have also undergone training to spot impostors.
While the Justice Department does have election monitors, their role is only to observe the process from afar, as they’re not allowed to enter any polling sites. Election monitors will also have proper ID.
“What they come to ensure is that we are using Spanish and English, because that’s part of federal law, and that there is no discrimination, that kind of thing, but they watch from afar. They already informed us that this is one of the counties they’re coming to but, probably, people will not even see that they’re there,” said Garcia.
Broward County election officials told 7News they received a similar report from the Justice Department, but that they have also not had any reported incidents of impostors posing as election monitors.
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