Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is sending roughly 1,000 federal monitors nationwide for Election Day, including to Pennsylvania counties where state law bars them from entering polling places. DOJ has said ICE and FBI personnel won't serve as monitors, though staff from agencies like the DEA, ATF and Federal Bureau of Prisons may participate without firearms or enforcement authority. Chicago has coordinated security with police, the FBI and emergency officials amid concerns over immigration enforcement near polling sites, while a coalition of civil rights groups is deploying lawyers and poll monitors. California is separately sending attorneys and observers to battleground districts, and DOJ continues legal challenges over noncitizen voter rolls.

Westmoreland County officials say a state inspection of the Westmoreland County Prison conducted last fall found only minor, already-corrected infractions, and that the findings had no connection to the recent firing of Warden Steve Pelesky. Commissioner Doug Chew, chairman of the county's prison board, said the Nov. 5 inspection by the state Department of Corrections identified seven minor findings—three security issues (all inventory control related), two sanitation concerns, and one each involving housing and food safety—with no citations or major deficiencies.

Pelesky was terminated last week after two weeks on paid administrative leave, with officials citing only "employment issues." Deputy Warden Robert Fagan was also removed from his active role and placed on leave, while Deputy Warden Ben Carrillo, hired in March, is now acting top administrator. The prison, which holds up to 710 inmates, has undergone annual inspections since a 2023 review found multiple deficiencies that preceded former Warden Bryan Kline's resignation. It is not scheduled for inspection in 2026.