The Trump administration is blocking international election monitors from observing this year's midterm elections, according to new reporting — which would mark the first time in two decades that outside observers have been shut out.
International monitoring missions, including those coordinated through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, have attended U.S. elections for decades as a matter of transparency, inviting scrutiny the United States has long demanded of other nations. The decision to keep them out comes amid a heated midterm campaign and the administration's broader skepticism toward international institutions.
The development surfaced alongside other election-related headlines Thursday, including a federal judge ordering the Kennedy Center board to unseal a renovation report the administration had sought to keep secret, and reporting that ICE secretly investigated hundreds of voter registration non-profits.
