Texas and DOJ agree on federal monitors at polling places
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Houston voters will cast ballots Tuesday. Photo: Sharon Steinmann/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Texas leaders and the U.S. Justice Department made an 11th-hour agreement over federal monitors at polling places on Election Day.
The big picture: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton late Monday sued the DOJ, asking a federal judge to restrain agency personnel from "being present at voting locations and central count stations in the 2024 election."
Driving the news: Paxton's attorneys said in a court filing later Monday that the DOJ agreed to not send monitors inside polling places or vote counting centers.
- The DOJ also agreed to adhere to state laws regarding electioneering inside a 100-foot radius of polling places and pledged they wouldn't interfere with voters.
- The state also acknowledged voters may speak with federal monitors if they choose.
Meanwhile, Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk early Tuesday formally denied Paxton's request to block the monitors.
- A Missouri judge similarly denied a motion to block federal voting monitors dispatched there on Election Day, per Reuters, after the state's Republican attorney general announced a lawsuit seeking to ban "unauthorized poll monitors."
Catch up quick: The DOJ announced Friday it was sending federal monitors to polls in 86 jurisdictions in 27 states Tuesday — including counties where Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are located — acting on its duty to ensure voting rights are fulfilled nationwide.
- Later Friday evening, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson sent a letter to the DOJ pointing to a state ban on federal monitors at places where ballots are cast or counted.
- The 2021 law, which passed the Texas House and Senate largely along Republican party lines, lists specific people allowed inside those places, including election officials, civilian poll watchers and state inspectors, but does not include federal monitors.
What they're saying: "Justice Department monitors are not permitted inside a polling place where ballots are being cast or a central counting station where ballots are being counted," Nelson, a former Republican state senator, wrote in the letter.
- "Rest assured that Texas has robust processes and procedures in place to ensure that eligible voters may participate in a free and fair election," she said.
- Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who appointed Nelson to her position, backed her up.
Yes, but: Some Harris County Democrats, who called for the DOJ to monitor Harris County in the first place, say it could set up a test of federal authority.
- "You're trying to tell the federal government they have no business in a federal election? I don't understand that level of insanity," Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) said Monday.
Zoom in: Paxton's suit claims the DOJ has no authority to monitor elections in Texas and that "no federal law preempts Texas law," citing the DOJ's press release on the matter.
- In the lawsuit, Paxton's staffers note that the DOJ "has general authority to enforce certain federal laws" but said the press release did not detail any specifics.
State of play: The Texas secretary of state's office will deploy state inspectors to polling locations and vote counting centers in Harris County.
- The office announced the move in August after releasing its final audit report of the November 2022 election.
Flashback: The DOJ also sent federal monitors to Harris County in 2022 and has routinely monitored elections on the ground nationwide since 1965, when Congress passed the Voting Rights Act.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include legal developments.