Missouri Takes Legal Battle to DOJ Over Poll Monitoring Dispute

As we approach the final hours of the election in 2024, it’s a battle between federal power and the state’s rights. The Department of Justice has announced that on Tuesday, it will send lawyers to 86 voting locations in 27 different states to monitor the polls.

 

Some of these states, such as Missouri, are fighting back. On Monday, the state filed a lawsuit against the DOJ, challenging the federal right to monitors.

 

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Justice Department to stop federal officials from monitoring voting locations in St. Louis during Election Day.

 

Ashcroft accused the Justice Department in a press release of “attempting illegally to interfere in Missouri elections.” The DOJ had announced it would monitor polling places in St. Louis. This is one of the 86 jurisdictions across 27 states the DOJ will be monitoring on Election Day to “ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections.”

 

Ashcroft stated that the DOJ’s actions were not permitted. “The law is clear and specific about who can be in polling stations and this action was not allowed,” Ashcroft added.

 

 

“The Secretary of State’s Office has complete confidence in our electoral authorities. We are prepared for Election Day. I want to thank personally all 116 local elections authorities and the thousands of poll workers in Missouri who ensure our elections are safe, secure, and reliable,” he said.

 

Missouri is not the only state to object to the DOJ’s announcement. Texas and Florida also have expressed concern about the practice.

 

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson wrote in a Friday letter to the Justice Department that “Texas Law is clear: Justice Department Monitors are not allowed inside polling stations where votes are being cast, or central counting stations where ballots were being counted.”

 

Nelson wrote, “Texas is equipped with robust procedures and processes to ensure eligible voters can participate in an election free and fair.”

 

In a letter sent to the Justice Department on Friday, Florida Secretary Of State Cord Byrd informed them that Florida law lists the people who are allowed in the polling stations of the state, and Justice Department officials were not listed. Byrd stated that Florida will send its own monitors in the four jurisdictions where the Justice Department intends to send staff and they will ensure there is “no interference with the voting processes.”

 

In the first paragraph of the complaint filed by Ashcroft, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, U.S. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke, and the DOJ in the Eastern District of Missouri the core issue is laid out.

 

 

The Department of Justice has, for the second time in a row and at the eleventh hour, announced its intention to replace state election authorities. Shelby County. Ala. v. Holder 570 U.S. 529), 543 (cleaned up). Missouri used its traditional authority to secure elections by passing a law that strictly limits the number of people who can be in a voting location, other than voters. The DOJ does not employ poll monitors. DOJ, however, did not cite any specific federal authority to justify its actions. Instead, it announced on November 1, without citing anything in particular as an authorization for its action that they would be disobeying Missouri law by placing unauthorized poll watchers in polling places in St. Louis.

 

This is not the first time the DOJ and the state have had a run-in. A similar situation unfolded in 2022 ahead of mid-term elections.

 

The lawsuit asks that the court declare the DOJ’s proposed action as “arbitrary, capricious or otherwise against the law”, and to stop the DOJ from taking these proposed actions.

 

Bailey released a statement regarding the lawsuit on X/Twitter:

 

 

BREAKING NEWS: I have filed a lawsuit against the Biden/Harris DOJ over sending unauthorized poll monitors to Missouri voting locations.

 

It is clear from the law that @KamalaHarris cannot just send anyone into our voting places.

 

This is illegal and undermines the trust in our democratic process.

 

The hearing has been scheduled for Monday night before U.S. district judge Sarah Pitlyk, a Trump nominee. She will likely rule on this matter by Monday evening. We will continue monitoring the situation and provide updates when they become available.