U.S. judges have denied requests from the Republican-led states of Missouri and Texas to block the federal government from sending lawyers to their states on Election Day to monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws.
Both states are among the 27 that the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) said it would send staff out to monitor at voting locations, as it has done regularly during national elections.
Federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ordered the DOJ early on Tuesday to confirm that “no observers” would be present in polling locations in Texas but denied issuing the restraining order the state had requested.
“The Court cannot issue a temporary restraining order without further clarification on the distinction between ‘monitoring’ and ‘observing’ on the eve of a consequential election,” Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, said in the ruling.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had earlier said that sending monitors “infringes on States’ constitutional authority to run free and fair elections.”
The monitors are literally because the state is shit at running free and fair elections. Yes, states are responsible for operating elections. The state says “Here’s how we’re going to do that,” and federal monitors may be sent to determine whether what’s actually happening is substantially aligned with what the state said would happen.
https://www.justice.gov/crt/about-federal-observers-and-election-monitoring
This is allowed by the Voting Rights Act, even though Shelby County v. Holder fucked it up.