Federal election monitors to remain outside TX polling places after agreement with Paxton
The Department of Justice agreed the night before Election Day to keep its poll monitors outside voting stations in Texas after the state’s attorney general sued the agency over its oversight efforts.
Ken Paxton and his peers in several other Republican-led states filed lawsuits against the federal government in an attempt to keep Justice Department election overseers from entering polling sites, portraying a routine election security measure as disruptive federal overreach.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s lawless intimidation campaign infringes on States’ constitutional authority to run free and fair elections,” Paxton said in a Nov. 4 statement announcing the lawsuit. “Texas will not be intimidated and I will make every effort to prevent weaponized federal agencies from interfering in our elections.”
The Justice Department had announced Nov. 1 that it intended to dispatch personnel from its Civil Rights Division to voting locations in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states, including Texas.
The practice dates to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Justice Department tasks lawyers and support staff (not law enforcement agents) with documenting and curtailing any voting rights violations at the polls — whether it be intimidation, discrimination, or failure to adequately accommodate voters with special needs.
Paxton has long advocated for more scrutiny of Texas polling places. As Republican officials contested the results of the 2020 presidential election, Paxton argued before the Texas Supreme Court that counties must allow civilian poll watchers into voting sites to observe ballot counting.
