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AMARILLO, Texas (CN) — On the eve of the Election Day, Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice reached an agreement over the department’s plans to monitor polling sites in the state.
On Monday evening, the state filed a nine-page lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’ Amarillo Division, naming several federal officials at the Department of Justice as defendants, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
As of Tuesday morning, the parties had a three-page agreement. The document stipulates that observers will be allowed outside polling locations and central count facilities but cannot interfere with voting. The department also acknowledged Texas’ laws prohibiting electioneering within 100 feet of a polling location and that the observers are subject to state laws. Texas acknowledged that voters are allowed to speak with federal observers outside of polling locations.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is a co-plaintiff in the suit alongside the state, had argued that the DOJ’s deployment of election monitors constituted intimidation.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s lawless intimidation campaign infringes on states’ constitutional authority to run free and fair elections,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Texas will not be intimidated and I will make every effort to prevent weaponized federal agencies from interfering in our elections.”
With the agreement, the state has notified U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Donald Trump appointee, that it wishes to withdraw its petition for an emergency restraining order.
On Nov. 1, the DOJ announced its plans to send election monitors to 27 states to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws. Of the 86 jurisdictions identified in the announcement, eight are Texas counties spread across the state in which 9.7 million Texans reside. Large population centers such as Dallas County, Bexar County — home to San Antonio, and Harris County — home to Houston, are all listed as jurisdictions where federal observers will be present.
The department lists several statutes, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, that observers will be looking to ensure polling places and central counting facilities are abiding by.
However, in its original complaint Texas argued that the DOJ lacked the authority to execute its monitoring plans and would violate state law if otherwise blocked from doing so. Poll watchers and state inspectors are just two of the 15 identified people who are statutorily authorized to be at a polling site, but the state argues the federal observers are not. The same goes for people permitted to be at a central counting facility.
The state said that because a poll watcher must be appointed by a candidate or political party, the DOJ fails to satisfy requirements to be present at polling locations.
Before the state filed its complaint in federal court, the Texas Secretary of State — which is responsible for conducting elections in the state — sent a letter shortly after learning about the Justice Department’s plans, saying that federal observers are not allowed into polling sites for central counting facilities. A response to the letter was not noted in the complaint.
In the lead-up to the election, AG Paxton — who is a close ally of former President Donald Trump — has been filing lawsuits and conducting investigations related to voting in the state. Most recently, Paxton’s officesued the Department of Homeland Security, claiming that the agency failed to comply with the state’s request to verify the citizenship status of registered Texas voters.
The office has also been involved in lawsuits it filed against Bexar and Travis counties over their effort to register voters before the election. In August, state law enforcement officers and the attorney general’s office also conducted raids targeting volunteers with the League of Latin American Citizens, including the group’s state director. Paxton said the raids were in connection with a vote-harvesting and fraud investigation connected to the 2022 election. The group has condemned the raids, calling them voter intimidation.
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