The Republican-led states of Missouri and Texas filed lawsuits on Monday to block the U.S. Justice Department from sending monitors to their states on Election Day to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.
Both states are among 27 that the Justice Department announced on Friday it would monitor during the upcoming election, as part of its routine efforts to enforce federal voting laws during national elections.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that sending federal monitors “infringes on states’ constitutional authority to run free and fair elections.” The lawsuit claims that Texas law does not permit federal authorities to be present at polling places or central counting stations, except in specific circumstances.
Paxton, a Republican, filed the suit in federal court in Amarillo, Texas. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee known for siding with conservative litigants in the past.
In Missouri, the state’s lawsuit accuses the Justice Department of rushing an “11th-hour plan” to send poll monitors into St. Louis, potentially displacing state election officials. On Monday evening, Justice Department lawyers confirmed that two monitors had already been deployed at a St. Louis polling location. This location had previously reached a settlement with the Justice Department in January 2021 over concerns about architectural barriers that could have hindered voting for people with disabilities. As part of the settlement, the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners agreed to allow federal oversight of polling places on Election Day.
The settlement, which occurred late in the Trump administration, included an agreement to let the Justice Department monitor polling locations for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other voting rights protections.
The Justice Department declined to comment on either lawsuit.
The lawsuits come as former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, continues to falsely claim that widespread voter fraud cost him the 2020 election. He has urged his supporters to monitor polling places for suspected fraud. Although Texas and Missouri are not considered battleground states in this year’s election, the Justice Department is sending election monitors to various locations across the country, including some counties in key battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
In addition to monitoring for voter fraud, the Justice Department enforces federal laws designed to protect voter access and rights. These include ensuring that states provide accommodations for voters with disabilities and that military personnel and U.S. citizens living overseas can vote by absentee ballot in federal elections.
Neither Missouri nor Texas are among the seven battleground states that are expected to play a pivotal role in deciding the outcome of the election, but the Justice Department’s efforts to monitor elections nationwide aim to ensure compliance with federal voting protections.
