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Texas bars federal election monitors from state polling stations (www.rawstory.com)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to c/usa@midwest.social

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Texas’ top elections official told the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday its election monitors aren’t permitted in the state's polling places after the federal agency announced plans to dispatch monitors to eight counties on Election Day to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.

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[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 38 points 7 months ago (8 children)

pretty sure you can't tell the federal government 'no', here. and besides, who else is gonna help you count past '1'?

[–] horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world 21 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Elections in America are run by and certified by the States. The Federal government has laws on campaign finance (FEC) when the elections are held and to be certified by, and who is eligible to be elected.

If a state wants to refuse access to monitors they can. It's absolutely ignorant to refuse monitoring as it would only help to prove a fair election to have them there. However, under the constitution it is the right of a state to verify their own electoral process.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_United_States

[–] leverage 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Plenty of precedent for federal government to get involved. Voting rights act (1965) would be the most recent significant example that comes to mind. Constitutionality at that time was challenged and upheld as the states were violating the constitution by disenfranchising African Americans.

[–] horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

If we currently had a voting rights act that pertained to voter attendance or required monitor access I'd agree with you. But we don't, so here we are.

I one hundred percent agree that Merrick Garland (or Biden even) could absolutely send agents down there to force compliance with federal monitoring. However I don't see that happening for a few counties in Texas.

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1181131584/in-a-surprise-decision-the-supreme-court-reaffirmed-the-1965-voting-rights-act

https://www.britannica.com/event/Voting-Rights-Act

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