By Steve Neavling
U.S. judges have rejected efforts by the Republican-led states of Missouri and Texas to prevent the federal government from deploying lawyers on Election Day to oversee adherence to federal voting rights laws.
Missouri and Texas are among the 27 states where the Justice Department plans to send staff to monitor voting locations, continuing a long-standing practice during national elections.
Missouri’s lawsuit argued that the Justice Department’s plan to send poll monitors on Tuesday amounted to a “last-minute” attempt to “displace state election authorities,” Reuters reports.
DOJ counsel clarified during a Monday evening hearing that only two monitors were assigned to Missouri, tasked with overseeing a single polling site in St. Louis.
This St. Louis polling site previously reached a settlement with the Justice Department in January 2021 to address architectural barriers and other issues that could obstruct voting access for individuals with disabilities.
In Texas, federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk instructed the DOJ early Tuesday to confirm that “no observers” would be stationed inside polling locations in the state. However, he declined to grant the restraining order requested by Texas.
“The Court cannot issue a temporary restraining order without further clarification on the distinction between ‘monitoring’ and ‘observing’ on the eve of a consequential election,” Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Trump, stated in his ruling.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton contended that deploying federal monitors “infringes on States’ constitutional authority to run free and fair elections.”
Texas’s lawsuit asserted that, “under Texas law, the list of persons who may be present in voting locations or central counting stations does not include federal authorities.”
Meanwhile, District Judge Sarah Pitlyk in Missouri also denied that state’s request for a temporary restraining order, stating late Monday that “the harms that the State of Missouri anticipates are speculative.”
