The Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed Monday night to not enter polling and central count locations in Texas hours after Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the department.
Paxton sued the DOJ after it announced that it would be dispatching federal agents to “monitor” elections in Texas, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.
The department planned to send election monitors to eight counties: Atascosa, Bexar, Dallas, Frio, Harris, Hays, Palo Pinto and Waller.
Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures Major Victory Preventing Biden-Harris Administration From Unlawfully Sending DOJ Personnel Inside Texas Election Locations: https://t.co/KA28cmORTX
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) November 5, 2024
The lawsuit said Texas election law bars “unauthorized bystanders from being” in any polling location or central counting station during ballot counting. “Watchers,” however, are allowed in central counting stations and in polling locations “during the relevant election-day and vote-counting periods,” according to the lawsuit.
“The department regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country,” a DOJ press release stated.
Paxton’s lawsuit said no federal statute permits the DOJ to send federal agents to monitor state elections when they are barred by state laws.
Texas Declares No Federal Election Monitors Allowed
Watch now: https://t.co/kU99vSxph0 pic.twitter.com/gB36JXVbxl
— Texas Scorecard (@TexasScorecard) November 5, 2024
“Texans run Texas elections, and we will not be bullied by the Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The DOJ knows it has no authority to monitor Texas elections and backed down when Texas stood up for the rule of law. No federal agent will be permitted to interfere with Texas’s free and fair elections.”
Texas and the DOJ reached an agreement that allows the agency to send monitors, providing they do not enter polling locations.
DOJ election monitors must stay outside of central count and polling locations, and the monitors become answerable to Texas election law within 100 feet of said locations.
The DOJ must also commit to not interfering with people trying to vote.
The Caller reached out to the DOJ but has not heard back at the time of publication.
Paxton sued the Bexar County Commissioners Court in September to stop a program he said would send mass voter registration applications to locals — even if they were not eligible to vote, according to a press release.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
