Left: FILE – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a rally in support of President Donald Trump called the “Save America Rally” in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File). Right: Right: Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a church service and early vote event at Divine Faith Ministries International, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin).
In a last-minute attempt to keep federal officials away from Texas elections, indicted and impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over its plans to monitor polling sites in the state.
Paxton filed a nine-page complaint in U.S. District Court in Amarillo naming U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and several other federal officials as defendants and accused the Biden-Harris administration of using federal agents to intimidate voters.
The lawsuit is a response to a Nov. 1 announcement by the DOJ that it would dispatch federal observers from several federal agencies to 86 jurisdictions across 27 states, including eight Texas counties, on Election Day. Observers are expected in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. The administration said that the DOJ’s civil rights division would coordinate the effort and that throughout the day Tuesday, personnel will maintain contact with state and local election officials.
The DOJ said that the observers will constitute an enforcement effort by the DOJ to ensure that federal elections statutes, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act and Civil Rights Act, are followed. The DOJ also noted that the Americans with Disabilities Act protects the right of disabled persons to have a full and equal opportunity to vote, and that the DOJ’s criminal section enforces federal criminal statutes that prohibit voter intimidation and voter suppression based on race, color, national origin or religion.
Paxton, however, argued in his filing that under state law, poll watchers must be appointed by a candidate or political party, and that the DOJ’s observers fail to satisfy the legal requirements.
“Texas law allows ‘watchers’ to be present in both polling locations and central counting stations during the relevant election-day and vote-counting periods,” argued Paxton. “But far from creating a broad, catch-all exception under which DOJ monitors may slip into Texas polling stations and counting stations, ‘watcher’ is a tightly defined and closely restricted legal category under Texas statute.”
Paxton argued that “watchers” must be issued a certificate of appointment based on an affidavit that the watcher will refrain from recording audio or images while engaged in monitoring activities.
“To be eligible to serve as a watcher, a person must have completed a training program developed and maintained by the Texas Secretary of State,” Paxton argued in the filing.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s lawless intimidation campaign infringes on States’ constitutional authority to run free and fair elections,” said Paxton in a statement Monday. “Texas will not be intimidated and I will make every effort to prevent weaponized federal agencies from interfering in our elections.”
Texas has requested that the court temporarily and permanently block DOJ observers from being present at voting and central count facilities in the Nov. 5 election.
The case is proceeding before U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk — the Donald Trump appointee known to be receptive to conservative lawsuits. Kacsmaryk is the judge who ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of mifepristone, a drug commonly used in abortions. Kacsmaryk’s order launched a nationwide debate over the consequences of allowing a federal judge to second-guess the FDA’s scientific judgment regarding a medical regulations.
Kacsmaryk is also presiding over Trump’s recent lawsuit against CBS News over the network’s October interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump claims the aired footage was deceptively edited to “confuse, deceive, and mislead the public” and to “tip the scales” in favor of Democrats — which Trump said amounts to “election and voter interference.”
You can read Paxton’s full complaint here.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
