(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Justice Department lawyers will be at the polls in Texas and Missouri after U.S. judges denied their lawsuits to prevent the feds from intervening.
The DOJ announced its decision on Friday to send lawyers to the polls in 27 states for Election Day, sparking outrage among some states. The attorneys general for Missouri and Texas sued to block the DOJ.
“The law is clear that Kamala Harris can’t just send unvetted individuals into our polling places. It’s illegal and undermines trust in our elections,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said Monday.
🚨BREAKING: I filed suit against the Biden-Harris DOJ for sending unauthorized poll monitors to Missouri polling locations.
The law is clear that @KamalaHarris can’t just send unvetted individuals into our polling places.
It’s illegal and undermines trust in our elections.
— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) November 4, 2024
However, a U.S. judge disagreed with Bailey’s assertion.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Pitlyk, who was appointed by Donald Trump, ruled late Monday night that Missouri did not reach its burden of showing that the state would face irreparable harm if the DOJ’s monitors watched over its polls, according to a Tuesday report on her decision from The Hill.
“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, as reported by The Hill.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk reportedly made a similar decision in Texas, where there seems to be a legal distinction between election “monitoring” and “observing”—with the DOJ claiming to be doing the former. Judge Kacsmaryk, also appointed by Trump, said he “cannot issue a temporary restraining order without further clarification on the distinction between ‘monitoring’ and ‘observing’ on the eve of a consequential election.”
According to The Hill, Texas and the DOJ struck a bargain to allow lawyers to monitor polls from afar.
“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,” The Hill reported Tuesday.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
