WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Republican-led states say they will block the Justice Department's election monitors from going inside polling places on Election Day, pushing back on federal authorities' decades-long practice of watching for violations of federal voting laws. Officials in Florida and Texas have said they won't allow federal election monitors into polling sites on Tuesday. And on Monday, Missouri filed a federal lawsuit seeking a court order to block federal officials from observing inside polling places.
The Justice Department announced last week that it's deploying election monitors in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states on Election Day. The Justice Department declined to comment on Monday on the Missouri lawsuit and the moves by other Republican-led states. The race between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump is a dead heat, and both sides are bracing for potential legal challenges to vote tallies.
The Justice Department’s election monitoring effort, a long practice under both Democratic and Republican administrations, is meant to ensure that federal voting rights are being followed. Here's a look at election monitors and the states' actions: Election monitors are lawyers who work for the Justice Department, including in the civil rights division and U.S.
attorney's offices across the country. They are not law enforcement officers or federal agents. For decades, the Justice Department's civil rights division has sent attorneys and .