The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) deployed approximately 1,000 election monitors to all 50 states on Tuesday, Nov. 3, calling it the largest such effort in the agency's history.

Milton and Canton were not on the list. In Massachusetts, the DOJ sent monitors only to Boston and Lowell, according to the department's announcement. Both cities are outside Norfolk County, where Milton and Canton voters headed to the polls.

The DOJ has sent election monitors since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. But the scope of the Nov. 3 deployment was unprecedented, with monitors fanning out across every state for the first time.

"I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

The monitors include personnel from the Civil Rights Division, other DOJ components, U.S. Attorney's Offices and federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, the department said. They are checking compliance with federal voting rights statutes, including the Voting Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and laws prohibiting voter intimidation.

Boston, Lowell and New Bedford were also monitored during the Sept. 1 primary elections, CommonWealth Beacon reported. DOJ officials said the practice is routine, aimed at ensuring voting rights laws are followed in places with high numbers of non-English speakers and voters with disabilities, according to the outlet.

Deb O'Malley, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State William Galvin, told CommonWealth Beacon that monitors are typically sent to those cities because of their complex language requirements. Lowell uses a trilingual ballot in English, Spanish and Khmer. Boston prints bilingual ballots in three versions: Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.

The deployment drew mixed reactions. Some voting rights groups, including the NAACP, said they believe the monitors could suppress turnout and disenfranchise voters, particularly from minority groups, USA Today reported. Some local election officials also expressed concern that a large wave of observers could intimidate voters, according to Axios.

Galvin said he was concerned but not terribly worried about federal law enforcement presence at Massachusetts polling locations, according to CommonWealth Beacon's coverage published Nov. 2.

In Milton, polls opened at 7 a.m. across five locations serving 11 precincts, according to the town's election page. Voting locations included Tucker School on Blue Hills Parkway, Milton Senior Center on Walnut Street, Cunningham Park Community Center on Edge Hill Road, Cunningham School Gymnasium on Edge Hill Road and Copeland Field House at Milton High School on Gile Road. Polls close at 8 p.m.

More than 1.1 million Massachusetts residents had already cast ballots as of Monday, Nov. 2, according to Galvin. The secretary of state reported a "dramatic increase" in early in-person voting, while mail-in voting was running at about the same rate as 2022.

Voters with questions or complaints about federal voting rights can call the DOJ's election hotline at 1-800-253-3931 or email [email protected].