Some Republican-led states say they will refuse to let Justice Department monitors into polling places

WASHINGTON — Some Republican-led states say they will block Justice Department election observers from entering polling places on Election Day, bucking federal authorities’ decades-old practice of pursuing violations of federal voting laws.

Officials in Florida and Texas said they would not allow federal election monitors into polling places on Tuesday. And on Monday, Missouri filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to block federal officials from observing inside polling places. Texas followed with a similar lawsuit that sought to permanently ban federal monitoring of the state’s elections.

The Justice Department announced last week that it will deploy election monitors in 86 jurisdictions in 27 states on Election Day. The Justice Department declined to comment on the Republican-led states’ moves, but filed court papers urging the judge to reject Missouri’s request.

The race between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump is a hot one, and both sides are bracing for potential legal challenges to the vote. The Justice Department’s election monitoring effort, a longstanding practice in both Democratic and Republican administrations, is meant to ensure compliance with federal voting rights.

Here’s a look at election monitors and state actions:

Who are the election monitors?

Election monitors are lawyers who work for the Department of Justice, including the civil rights division and U.S. attorney’s offices across the country. They are not law enforcement officers or federal agents.

For decades, the Justice Department’s civil rights division has sent lawyers and staff members to monitor polling places across the country in both federal and non-federal elections. Monitors are tasked with ensuring compliance with federal voting rights laws.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division enforces a number of statutes that protect the right to vote. This includes the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits intimidation and threats against those who vote or count votes. And it includes the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires election officials to ensure that people with disabilities have a full and equal chance to vote.

“The Department of Justice has a nearly 60-year history of addressing Election Day issues to protect the voting rights of citizens of color and other communities of color,” said Edward Casper, Acting Co-Chief Counsel of the Lawyers Committee for civil rights. Justice. “While some recent efforts to intervene in this process may seem more bark than bite, they still pose a real threat to civil rights enforcement,” he said.

Where are the election monitors sent?

The 86 jurisdictions to which the Justice Department will send monitors on Tuesday include Maricopa County, Arizona, and Fulton County, Georgia, which in 2020 became the focus of election conspiracy theories spread by Trump and other Republicans. Another place on the list is Portage County, Ohio, where a sheriff has come under fire for a social media post saying people with Harris signs should have their addresses registered so immigrants can be sent to live with them if the democrat wins. the presidency.

Other areas where federal monitors will be sent include Detroit; Queens, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Jackson County, South Dakota; Salem, Massachusetts; Milwaukee; Manassas, Virginia; Cuyahoga County, Ohio; and Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska. Department of Justice monitors will be in St. Louis, four jurisdictions in Florida and eight jurisdictions in Texas.

What’s going on in Missouri?

In filing the lawsuit Monday, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said state law “clearly and specifically limits who can be at the polls.” He also accused the federal government of “trying to illegally interfere in Missouri’s election.”

The lawsuit states that Missouri law “allows only certain categories of persons to be present at polling places, including voters, minor children accompanying voters, poll workers, election judges, etc.” and not federal officials.

The Justice Department also sought to monitor Missouri polling places in 2022. The agency planned to have officials in Cole County, which includes Jefferson City, the state capital. County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer said he won’t let them in if they show up.

The federal agency backed down after Ashcroft showed Justice Department officials the state law, Ashcroft said. He says the Justice Department is now “trying to go through the back door” by contacting local election officials for access.

Messages were left Monday at the Board of Election Commissioners in St. Louis.

In court documents filed late Monday, the Justice Department said it has the authority to conduct monitoring there under a settlement agreement with the St. Louis, designed to ensure that people with mobility and vision impairments can access polling stations. The deal was reached in 2021 under Trump’s Justice Department after federal officials found problems such as ramps that were too steep and inaccessible parking lots, according to court documents. The agreement, which expires next year, says the council must “cooperate fully” with the Justice Department’s efforts to monitor compliance, “including but not limited to providing the United States with timely access to polling places (including on election day)”.

The Justice Department said Tuesday that an attorney and an investigator from the Disability Rights Division are in St. Louis to inspect accessibility issues. The department has conducted such inspections under the settlement agreement on “several occasions,” including in local elections in April, government lawyers said in court documents.

What do other states say?

In a letter to the Department of Justice on Friday, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said she wrote: “Texas law is clear: Department of Justice monitors are not permitted at polling places where ballots are cast or in -a central counting station where the ballots are counted. “

“Texas has robust processes and procedures to ensure that eligible voters can participate in free and fair elections,” Nelson wrote.

In a similar letter Friday, Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd told the Department of Justice that people who are allowed to enter the state’s polling stations and Department of Justice officials are not included. Byrd said Florida is sending its own monitors to the four jurisdictions where the Justice Department plans to send personnel, and that they will “make sure there is no interference with the voting process.”

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Associated Press writer Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee contributed reporting, Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri.