The U.S. Department of Justice deployed approximately 1,000 election monitors to polling locations in all 50 states on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The agency called it the "largest monitoring effort in history."

Hamilton County is not on the list.

Three Ohio counties are: Cuyahoga, Franklin and Medina. But Hamilton County Elections Director Sherry Poland said her office is prepared for anything. At an Oct. 20 county commissioners meeting, Poland addressed concerns that federal agents could appear at local polling places, WVXU reported.

"It's against federal law for an armed federal agent to be inside a polling place," Poland said. "And Ohio election law also limits who may be in a polling place. So we feel like we're in a really good position."

Poland said two assistant prosecutors will be on site at the Board of Elections on Election Day for immediate legal guidance. Poll workers have been trained on what to do if anyone tries to interrupt voting, she added.

The DOJ's deployment is roughly triple the 338 monitors it sent during the 2022 midterm elections, according to WVXU. The monitors will check for compliance with federal voting laws, including the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), according to the DOJ's announcement.

Personnel from the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Office of Personnel Management make up the monitoring teams. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement that election integrity has been a top priority for the administration.

Federal election monitors have visited Ohio frequently under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Signal Cincinnati reported. In 2016, monitors went to Cuyahoga, Hamilton and Franklin counties. In 2020, they went to Cuyahoga County.

Aaron Ockerman, executive director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials, told Signal Cincinnati the practice is familiar. "I know that congressional committees also are planning to send observers to Ohio and it's nothing new," Ockerman said.

Not everyone views the expanded effort the same way. Some voting-rights groups, including the NAACP, said they believe the deployment could suppress turnout, particularly among minority voters, according to USA Today. Ohio State University professor Steven Huefner told NBC4 the concern is that monitors could be used to lay groundwork for challenging election outcomes.

Ohio law prohibits observers from handling election materials, taking photographs inside polling places, wearing uniforms or carrying firearms, according to Signal Cincinnati.

Ohio polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3. Voters with questions or complaints about federal voting rights can call the DOJ's election hotline at 1-800-253-3931.