The Justice Department said it plans to “monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in 86 jurisdictions in 27 states for the Nov. 5 general election.”

“The Justice Department enforces federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all eligible citizens to access the ballot. The department regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country,” the Justice Department said in a release on Friday.

“For the general election, the department will monitor for compliance with federal voting rights laws on Election Day in 86 jurisdictions,” it added.

The jurisdictions are located in the following states:

  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • California
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Kentucky
  • Massachusetts
  • Maryland
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • North Carolina
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • Nevada
  • New York
  • Ohio
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Virginia
  • Wisconsin

From the New York Post:

Nearly a third of the 86 jurisdictions where the department will keep tabs on polling sites are in the nation’s seven most closely watched swing-states.

Monitors are set to visit six counties in Michigan, five in Georgia, four each in Wisconsin and Arizona, three apiece in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and one in Nevada on Nov. 5.

Republican leaders in other states, including Texas, Missouri and Florida, said they would reject the DOJ request for access to polling sites, according to reports.

“Federal monitors are not allowed to enter polling places in Texas,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.

Republican leaders in Florida and Missouri took the same stance, prohibiting federal monitors from polling locations.

The Washington Post reports:

Republican leaders in Missouri and Florida, which flatly banned federal monitors in the 2022 midterm elections, said in recent interviews that their positions have not changed and that Justice officials likely would be rebuffed again if they request access to voting locations for Tuesday’s presidential election.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) accused the Justice Department of using monitors to punish conservative states that have tightened voter identification laws and adopted policies the Biden administration opposes. Drawing from a state law that does not specifically list federal monitors as permitted to enter polling sites, he accused the Justice Department of overstepping its authority.

“This certainly has become politicized,” said Ashcroft, whose father John Ashcroft led the Justice Department as attorney general during the administration of President George W. Bush. “The Department of Justice lied when they came in and used pretenses to try to bully their way in when they knew what they were doing was not legal.”

In 2022, federal authorities sought access to polling sites in Cole County, Missouri, home of the state capital of Jefferson City, citing complaints that the county lacked adequate voting machines for disabled people. Ashcroft, who rejected those complaints as untrue, said federal monitors who showed up on Election Day were forced to remain outside in public spaces.

In Florida, Secretary of State Cord Byrd (R) said Justice officials in 2022 failed to provide a valid reason for trying to enter polling sites in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, prompting him and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to rebuff their requests. A spokesman for Byrd’s office said this month that state law does not explicitly permit federal monitors to enter voting locations.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.