Eric Christopher Webb, DDiv., CPLC
Director of Communications
/Editor of The Sphinx
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
ewebb@apa1906.net
Cell: 443-635-5911
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. on DOJ’s Plan to Deploy Poll Monitors for Select Primaries
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. opposes the Department of Justice’s targeting and deployment of federal poll monitors in Virginia, Arizona, Michigan, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Hampshire and sees it as part of a larger plan to undermine voters’ confidence as well as to discourage and intimidate voters.
“The Fraternity has a proud and enduring legacy of advancing civil rights, protecting voting rights, and promoting civic engagement, and does not oppose lawful federal action to protect voters from discrimination, intimidation, or the denial of their constitutional rights,” said Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. General President Lucien J. Metellus, Jr.
The identified six states and 15 jurisdictions, however, represent mostly Democratic strongholds. And while Democratic and Republican administrations have previously deployed election monitors to monitor whether federal laws were being violated, but they have not been used to enforce them.
The DOJs announcement, without any credible evidence or patterns of fraud, comes one day after it sent letters to all 50 states and D.C. warning that election officials could face criminal liability if they knowingly retain non-citizens on voter rolls or allow them to receive and cast ballots.
In response to another DOJ effort, eleven district courts have already blocked an effort to force states to hand over unredacted statewide voter rolls. No court has ordered a state to provide that sensitive data.
Days earlier, President Trump also ousted the last remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission (ECA), an independence office created by Congress in 2002 to support state and local election officials. Among its duties are creating non-binding election guidelines, certifying voting systems and maintaining the national mail voter registration form.
This administration’s efforts are tantamount to Jim Crow-era voter intimidation and suppression antics, representing a trial run for what is planned for the upcoming midterm elections in November, which likely will include masked and armed ICE agents deployed to polling places.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. encourages citizens to educate themselves on voter rights and protections as well as are requiring at least two members of each of its College and Alumni chapters to volunteer as poll watchers or election judges with their local boards of elections to ensure fair elections.
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About Alpha Phi Alpha
The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American men, was founded on December 4, 1906, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and is headquartered in Baltimore, MD. The Fraternity has long stood at the forefront of the African American community’s fight for civil rights through Alpha men such as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; late former Congressman Adam Clayton Powell; late former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; legendary activist, actor and performer, Paul Robeson, former Ambassador Andrew Young; late former Senator Edward Brooke; scholar, Cornel West; Senator Raphael Warnock; Congressman Steven Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus; General CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; six other members of the U.S. Congress, numerous state, and local lawmakers across the United States, as well as President of Liberia, His Excellency Joseph Boakai, Sr. The fraternity, through its more than 720 college and alumni chapters and general-organization members, serves communities in the United States, and other parts of North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.