Florida and Missouri prevent DOJ monitors from accessing polling places

"Florida Statutes lists the people who 'may enter any polling room or polling place.' Department of Justice personnel are not included on the list," noted attorney Brad McVay.

Published by

Verónica Silveri Pazos

8 de noviembre, 2022

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The DeSantis Administration in Florida has refused to allow Department of Justice (DOJ) election monitors access to polling places in the southern part of the state. Federal government involvement would be "counterproductive" and "violate state law," according to a letter issued by Florida State Department attorney Brad McVay.

On Monday, the DOJ released a list of 64 jurisdictions within 24 states where it planned to send federal officials from the Civil Rights Division to "monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws." Included in that list are Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties in Florida.

McVay responded to the DOJ Monday night in a letter alleging that, under Florida law, such monitors could not enter polling places. He insisted that the secretary of state's office would instead send its own supervisors to those three counties, which are among the most Democratic-leaning areas in the Sunshine State:

Florida Statutes lists the people who 'may enter any polling room or polling place.' Department of Justice personnel are not included on the list.

The DOJ said Tuesday that it had received the letter from the DeSantis Administration and that they still have and would maintain poll monitors outside polling places.

There is no need for "federal intrusion"

Florida law has an exception that allows law enforcement to enter polling places. However, McVay said DOJ monitors do not qualify within these groups:

absent some evidence concerning the need for federal intrusion, or some federal statute that preempts Florida law, the presence of federal law enforcement inside polling places would be counterproductive and could potentially undermine confidence in the election .... None of the counties are currently subject to any election-related federal consent decrees. None of the counties have been accused of violating the rights of language or racial minorities or of the elderly or disabled.

The DOJ justified sending the officials in a press release where it noted that the assigned monitoring locations are the same as those where local election procedures have been observed across the country since 1965.

Missouri rejects DOJ monitoring

Missouri officials on Friday also rejected the DOJ's request to conduct routine inspections "under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Voting Rights Act at polling places on Election Day."

Republican Secretary of State John Ashcroft refused to allow monitors access to polling places and told The Washington Post that the monitors' presence would could be seen as an attempt to "intimidate" local voters and could "suppress the vote."

Ashcroft and Cole County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer (R) told federal officials that they would not be allowed into the polling places. However, supervisors were stationed outside the centers today. Ashcroft hinted in a telephone interview that the monitors' intentions were different from those established by law:

This is not the Voting Rights Act.... This is the Americans with Disabilities Act. What's next? Are they going to want to be in the election because they want to prove that the building insulation was purchased in China in the 1970s? Give me a break...