Paxton sues over election monitors

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the U.S. Department of Justice for its plans to send election monitors on Tuesday to eight Texas counties, including Dallas, as voters are casting ballots. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court and announced by Paxton Monday evening, alleges that the election monitors are “unlawful” since state law governs election administration and does not grant authority to federal officials to be present inside a polling place or central counting location. Paxton is asking for a temporary restraining order to block the monitors from entering polling or counting locations and a permanent injunction on federal election monitoring in Texas. The legal motion was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas Amarillo Division, a federal trial court where a slew of conservative plaintiffs have filed lawsuits before the single sitting judge, an appointee of former President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department on Friday announced its plan to send election monitors to 86 jurisdictions across 27 states on Election Day. The department regularly visits precincts during elections to ensure compliance with federal election law, but the number of sites on the list has nearly doubled since 2020. The eight Texas counties expected to be visited by federal monitors were Atascosa, Bexar, Dallas, Frio, Harris, Hays, Palo Pinto and Waller. Texas state law lists 15 categories of people who are allowed inside polling locations, including voters and minors accompanied by voters, state and local election officials, and poll watchers who have completed state mandated training. Paxton’s lawsuit references the approved list and points out that the federal election monitors do not fit any of these criteria. A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday evening. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting, allowed federal officials to observe polling places and sites where ballots are counted. But the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling that struck down provisions of the law made it so that the Justice Department needed a court order or cooperation from state and local officials to enter polling sites, according to reporting by The Washington Post.