8mo ago

Some Republican-led states refuse to let Justice Department monitors into polling places

apnews.com Some Republican-led states refuse to let Justice Department monitors into polling places

Some Republican-led states say they they will block 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.

BrainWorms @lemm.ee

apnews.com /article/justice-department-election-monitors-republican-states-b432050ce1a28e106394b6cefeb4866c

16 3

28 comments

Gee, that's not suspicious at all...
- How the hell is this not "Roll up with the FBI/National Guard/Whoever and take the needed measures to get the DOJ observers into the polling station" level shenanigans?
  
  Because democrats decided to go with a Republican AG to show that they're not 'weak on crime'.
  
  Since 1965, federal officials have sent about 32,000 observers to jurisdictions with histories of harassing minority voters or even outright denying them access to the ballot. But officials say their hands are now tied by a 2013 Supreme Court decision that gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.As a result of that decision, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Justice Department will send observers only to jurisdictions where it already has court approval. That encompasses seven counties or jurisdictions in Alaska, California, Louisiana, and New York.
  
  Ah I read the article now. Seems there may be actual legal justification in at least some cases.
- Well you see they have nothing to hide so they have nothing to inspect! The Republican states are just trying to save the Federal government money!
  /s but only slightly
- On the contrary: they want you to think it's suspicious because casting doubt on the election's integrity is their goal. They want to manufacture justification for Trump's lawsuits and coup attempts.

So fucking arrest them.
- Somebody posted the text of the law the other day, and as dumb as it is, it's legally within the rights of states to deny federal monitoring of their polling sites. However, I do believe that if the feds have a warrant or whatever the equivalent document is, they can ignore the state's dissent. I'd like to think the people pulling the strings knew this was going to happen and prepared accordingly.
  
  Have you read the voting rights act & the Supremacy Clause?
- No, just don't allow their votes to count.
  
  No.

They should lose federal funds then. You know that every state on that list relies on them.

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.
So, not being blocked yet, just announcing that they will try. How much do you want to bet that this is grandstanding by the state AGs? When the feds rock up to the volunteer county election officials with federal court orders to monitor polling and counting, you think the locals will refuse, in the face of felony charges? A few may, like that Kentucky county clerk who tried denying gay couples a marriage license post-Obergefell, but most won’t, despite what their state AG says, because they know they will be the ones facing charges, not the AGs.
- And the follow-up: Texas, Missouri judges deny requests to block DOJ from sending poll monitors

Yeah yeah I know something something republicans don’t give a shit, but assuming we lived in a somewhat normal world and Donald Trump never existed, can they do that? I thought federal officials superseded state ones?
Are they basically just pulling the “I dare you to try to do something about it” because they know the shit that will go down if so won’t really make them look bad, even if they lose in court?
- It's a bit of a win-win situation for these nuts. If the election officials force their way in, they'll get to shriek about how corrupt Biden-Harris officials are trying to force their way into polling sites to steal the election. If it goes to court, they'll declare victory before the lawsuit is decided, and then Trump-loving muppets will start spamming lawfare, psy-op, or whatever the new word of the day is for trying to dismiss everything that would prevent them from illegitimately seizing power as the result of an insidious Democratic plot all over social media again once the lawsuits turn out in favor of the feds. Wild what you can get away with when you've got this rabid a death cult going for you.
- can they do that? I thought federal officials superseded state ones?
  Federal law supercedes state law. That doesn't mean federal officials can go where they want.
  IIRC, the issue is that the Voting Rights Act gave DoJ the power to observe elections, but the SCOTUS partially nuked the VRA. So now it's not clear whether the DoJ still has that power, and the usual suspects are taking advantage of this ambiguity. Possibly hoping to give the SCOTUS a chance to nuke more of the VRA.

But they let Neo Nazi poll watchers in to intimidate voters.

We'll have none of your "law and order" nonsense here - we believe in FREEDOM!!!
- BiG GubMiNt KeEp OuT!
  {we still get disaster money tho right?}

Should simply invalidate all votes from that location.
- Disenfranchising large swaths of states is what the GOP wants to do. Don't play into their hand.
  
  This exactly.
  It is how they are planning to get a contengent election
- But then they'll only refuse in areas they think they'll lose.

28 comments