Comment The DeSantis administration is trying to block Justice Department election monitors from accessing polling places in South Florida, saying in a letter that federal involvement would be “counterproductive” and violate state law. On Monday, the Justice Department announced it would send federal observers to 64 jurisdictions across the country to monitor how the election was conducted. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties were to host federal observers from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. But Brad McVeigh, the Florida Department of State’s chief counsel, said in a letter issued late Monday that those observers would not be allowed to enter polling places under Florida law. McVeigh said the Florida Secretary of State’s office — overseen by Republican Gov. Ron DeSandis — will instead send its own observers to those three counties, which are among the most Democratic in Florida. “Florida law lists the people who ‘may enter any polling place or polling place,’” McVeigh wrote. “DoJ personnel are not listed.” The Justice Department is sending Election Day observers to 64 jurisdictions Although Florida law has an exception that allows law enforcement to enter polling places, McVay said Justice Department observers do not qualify. “Absent some evidence of a need for federal intrusion or some federal law preempting Florida law, the presence of federal law enforcement inside polling places would be counterproductive and could potentially undermine confidence in the election,” he wrote. McVeigh. “None of the counties are currently subject to federal election-related consent decrees,” McVeigh added. “None of the counties have been accused of violating the rights of linguistic or racial minorities or the elderly or disabled.” The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the Justice Department said in a press release announcing the monitoring locations that it has observed local election processes nationwide since 1965. Republicans have waged a sustained campaign against alleged voter fraud over the past two years, despite little evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, and as threats against politicians, their families and election workers have increased across the country. Election officials in battleground states expect delayed results and prolonged clashes once the polls close Tuesday night. Separately, Missouri officials on Friday rejected a Justice Department request to conduct routine inspections under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Voting Rights Act at polling places on Election Day. Secretary of State John Ashcroft (R) reiterated that stance at a meeting Monday. He told the Washington Post that the Justice Department’s presence amounted to an attempt to “intimidate a local election authority” and could “intimidate and suppress voting.” Ashcroft and Cole County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer (R) told federal officials they would not be allowed to attend polling places on Tuesday. “This is not the Voting Rights Act. This is the Americans with Disabilities Act. What’s next? Will they want to be in the election because they want to check that the insulation in the building was bought from China in the 1970s? Give me a break,” Ashcroft said in a phone interview. He compared Justice Department officials from the U.S. attorney’s office from the Western District of Missouri to “boot thugs” and people in Arizona who have been seen patrolling the polls with firearms. “I think we already have lawsuits all over the country about people around polling places,” Ashcroft said. “And they were told to stay away from them because they could intimidate voters.” Justice Department officials last observed the 2016 Missouri election at polling places in St. Louis. FBI special agents who serve as election crime coordinators will also be on duty at the bureau’s 56 offices to take complaints from the public about voting, according to the Justice Department. Workers in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will also operate a hotline around the clock on Election Day, answering calls from people who identify potential violations of federal voting rights laws.
