Texas’ top elections official said Friday that federal inspectors can’t be inside polls or places where ballots are counted under Texas law after the DOJ announced plans to send monitors to the state.

Summary

Texas’ top elections official informed the U.S. Department of Justice that federal election monitors are not permitted inside polling places or counting locations under Texas law. The Justice Department plans to send monitors to eight Texas counties to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws. Despite the monitors’ presence outside polling places, Texas Democrats had previously requested their deployment to the state’s five most populous counties.

    • rowrowrowyourboat@sh.itjust.works
      106·
      2 days ago

      For decades, the Justice Department has dispersed election monitors across the country to observe procedures in polling sites and at places where ballots are counted. That was a power granted to the federal government under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices and sought to equalize voting access. After the U.S. Supreme Court gutted parts of the law years ago, the agency now must get permission from state and local jurisdictions to be present or get a court order.