The Trump administration has declined to invite election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to witness the midterms. The move blocks the regional security group from monitoring a United States federal election for the first time in more than two decades.

Washington now joins only Russia and Belarus in excluding OSCE observers. Their absence comes as Democrats and election integrity experts raise concerns about potential election meddling following the Justice Department’s announcement that it plans to deploy its own monitors.

The OSCE called the administration’s decision “regrettable.” Human Rights Watch said the move “fuels fears of serious human rights concerns around the upcoming elections.”

Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the decision in comments to MS NOW. She said it “risks undermining public trust in America’s safe and secure election system.”

“The Trump administration’s decision not to invite international observers to the United States is deeply antithetical to the spirit of freedom, democracy and transparency that defines our elections,” Shaheen said. She added that the United States should hold “itself to the same standards that we would expect of any other democracy.”

A State Department spokesperson was asked why the United States did not invite observers this year. The spokesperson said the OSCE “should focus its limited resources on elections where it can have the greatest impact.”

The OSCE has observed every federal election in the United States since 2002. Its monitors typically visit some polling stations, examine how elections are conducted and publish a report assessing the process.

Those international monitors do not interfere in elections and possess no enforcement authority. Their access to polling stations is determined separately by each state.

OSCE observers were invited to monitor the 2018 midterms during Trump’s first term. The organization also monitored the 2024 elections, which it described as “well-run,” while reporting that candidates campaigned “freely across the country.”

The Trump administration’s refusal breaks with that long pattern of allowing international observers to witness federal elections. It also departs from the approach taken during Trump’s first term, when the organization received an invitation to observe the midterms.

In its statement, the OSCE said the administration’s decision “is not in line” with commitments the United States has made to other countries within the organization. Participating states have agreed to invite observers to monitor their elections.

The organization’s role has generally been limited to observation and reporting, with no power to intervene or enforce changes. Even access to individual polling locations remains under state control rather than the monitors themselves.

The administration’s decision therefore removes observers whose stated activities have included visiting polling places and reporting on election administration. At the same time, the Justice Department is preparing to send its own monitors, a plan that has contributed to concerns from Democrats and election integrity experts.

Dan Baer, a former United States ambassador to the OSCE during the Obama administration, sharply criticized the refusal. “Refusing election observers is usually something that countries in a position of weakness do, when they know that they have corrupt or unfair elections,” he said.

“It’s very strange for the United States, which has been historically a standard setter in free and fair elections, to refuse observers,” Baer said. His criticism reflects the unusual nature of a decision that places Washington alongside Russia and Belarus in excluding the OSCE.