GOP officials in 3 states try to ban DOJ observers from entering polling places

Officials in Florida, Texas and Missouri said in recent days they would not allow Justice Department monitors to do what they have been doing for almost 60 years.

In a sign of how distrust of the federal government has permeated Republican politics in the Trump era, GOP officials in three red states have tried to block the Justice Department from engaging in its decades-long practice of sending observers into polling places.

Two of the states, Missouri and Texas, have asked federal judges to intervene, but overnight those judges declined to do so. Texas ultimately reached an agreement with the Justice Department resolving the issue.

Officials in Florida, Texas and Missouri said in recent days they would not allow DOJ monitors to do what they have been doing for almost 60 years: Deploy personnel to watch voting to ensure that federal civil and voting rights laws are being followed.

Pursuant to a 2013 Supreme Court decision, DOJ monitors only go inside polling places with the agreement of local officials, unless they have a court order. If they are not allowed inside, they speak to voters outside, in public areas.

In their federal lawsuits, Missouri and Texas officials argued that their state laws did not permit federal officials to be present at polling places. 

“Texas law is clear,” Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson wrote Friday in a letter to the DOJ. “Justice Department monitors are not permitted inside polling places where ballots are being cast or a central counting station where ballots are being counted.”

In a lawsuit Monday, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said state law “clearly and specifically limits who may be in polling places,” and he accused the federal government of “attempting to illegally interfere in Missouri’s elections.”

Ashcroft is the son of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who served in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005, and had DOJ officials serve as monitors in multiple states without incident.

Florida did not file a lawsuit, but Secretary of State Cord Byrd told the Justice Department in a letter Friday that state law does not allow DOJ officials in polling places. 

In the Missouri case, the Justice Department cited a 2021 settlement with the city of St. Louis allowing the DOJ to monitor compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Federal District Judge Sarah Pitlyk denied Missouri’s request for a temporary restraining order overnight, ruling that the harms it cited were “speculative” and outweighed by the federal interest in enforcing the disabilities law.

In Texas, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk took a different approach. He denied the restraining order because he said he needed more information. The DOJ was allowed to monitor polling places, he wrote, but was not allowed to send observers inside without a federal court order. 

Kacsmaryk ordered the DOJ to confirm that “no observers” would be present in polling locations in Texas.

But even before Kacsmaryk issued his order, the Texas attorney general announced an agreement with the Justice Department that allows what a DOJ spokesman said the department intended to do all along — remain outside polling places and talk to voters. Texas then dropped its lawsuit.

The Texas AG then issued a press release headlined, “Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Secures Major Vic­to­ry Pre­vent­ing Biden-Har­ris Admin­is­tra­tion From Unlaw­ful­ly Send­ing DOJ Per­son­nel Inside Texas Elec­tion Locations.” 

The Republican officials acted after the Justice Department announced it would be sending monitors to 86 jurisdictions in 27 states, as it has been doing for decades to monitor compliance with federal laws. 

In an atmosphere of threats against election workers, this was to be the highest number of monitored jurisdictions in 20 years.

The DOJ monitors tend to be rank-and-file department attorneys and staff members. Armed federal law enforcement officers are generally prohibited from entering polling places, which are secured by local law enforcement agencies.

In addition to the disabilities act, the DOJ also enforces the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits intimidation and threats against voters.

CNBC