Federal election monitors plan to visit New Haven on Nov. 3 but will remain outside the 75-foot restricted area around polling places, Connecticut Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said Oct. 30.

Thomas said her office, New Haven officials and the state attorney general's office discussed the visit with the U.S. Department of Justice. According to her statement, two teams of two monitors will focus on federally required language assistance and access for voters with disabilities.

She said the department assured state officials that monitors would not carry firearms, would not interfere with voting and would speak with voters only with their consent outside the restricted area. They would have no powers of arrest, detention, search or seizure, she said.

Thomas said Section 9-236 of Connecticut law does not authorize federal monitors to enter polling places. Like other members of the public, they may observe from outside the 75-foot restricted area, she said. Thomas said the Justice Department plans to send monitors to locations nationwide.