Nov. 5 (UPI) — A pair of federal judges rejected requests from the attorneys general of Missouri and Texas seeking to block the Justice Department’s plan to send election monitors to polling places in their states on Election Day Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Pitlyk ruled that Missouri did not adequately show that the presence of the Justice Department monitors would cause irreparable harm to the state and its elections.
“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.
The department announced last Friday that it will send representatives to locations in 27 states, including Missouri and Texas, to monitor compliance with federal voting rights and civil rights laws.
“I filed a suit against the Biden-Harris DOJ for sending unauthorized poll monitors to Missouri polling locations,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said on X. “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.”
In 2021, the City of St. Louis, the only location federal monitors are scheduled to be located, reached an agreement with the Trump Justice Department to lead the Justice Department to monitor their locations for election compliance on Election Day.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that the federal monitors arriving in several Texas counties, including Harris County, the home of Houston, violate state law.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s lawless intimidation campaign infringes on state’s constitutional authority to run free and fair elections,” Paxton said in a statement. “Texas will not be intimidated and I will make every effort to prevent weaponized federal agencies from interfering in our elections.”
Texas and the Justice Department appeared to reach an agreement that would see election monitors remain outside of polling and central count locations and not interfere with voters.
However, U.S. District Judge Matthey Kacsmaryk ordered the Justice Department to ensure it would not send “observers” but denied the request to issue a restraining order, which was ultimately dropped.
“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 wrote.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the federal monitors will be welcomed there.
“We have nothing to hide, but I know the state won’t take our word for it,” Hidalgo said, according to KHOU-TV. “Once again, I request that impartial, third-party federal monitors from the Department of Justice come to Harris County so we can prove that our elections continue tobe free, fair and secure.”