Judges deny requests to block DOJ from monitoring polls

Federal judges denied two states’ requests to bar the Justice Department (DOJ) from dispatching lawyers to monitor adherence to federal voting rights laws on Election Day.

Both Missouri and Texas asked federal courts to keep DOJ lawyers away from their polls. Missouri’s attorney general and secretary of state said any monitoring would “displace state election authorities,” and Texas’s attorney general contended that “Texas law alone determines who can monitor voting in Texas.”

The DOJ announced its intent to send poll monitors to 27 states in a press release Friday, asserting the agency “regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country.” The agency plans to monitor one city in Missouri, St. Louis, and eight counties in Texas.

In its opposition to Missouri’s request, the Justice Department pointed to a settlement it reached with St. Louis reached regarding a separate matter, compliance with the American Disabilities Act, in the final days of former President Trump’s administration. 

The DOJ identified “architectural barriers” at polling places to people with disabilities, and as part of the city’s settlement with the agency, its Board of Election Commissioners agreed to let the Justice Department monitor for compliance — including on Election Day.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Pitlyk found that Missouri did not reach its burden of showing that the state would face irreparable harm if the Justice Department’s monitors watched over the city’s polls.

“In practical terms, the expected harm is monitoring by two individuals at one polling place to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as contemplated by an agreement that has been in place for several years, and as already done at least twice without incident,” Pitlyk wrote in a late Monday ruling.

In Texas, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk early Tuesday ordered the DOJ to verify that the agency would not send “observers” to poll locations in Texas while also denying issuing the restraining order.

“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, a Trump appointee, said in the ruling.

Texas and the DOJ appeared reached an agreement on the matter before Kacsmaryk’s ruling.

The Justice Department said that its election monitors would remain outside of polling and central count locations, would be subject to Texas election law within 100 feet of those locations and would not interfere with voters attempting to cast their ballots. The Lone Star State withdrew its motion for a temporary restraining order.

DOJ will monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in several other states, including several jurisdictions in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Neither Missouri nor Texas are considered battleground states.