[UPDATE: Florida also DENIES] – Missouri DENIES Merrick Garland’s federal ‘election monitors’ access to polling locations

by The Right Scoop

Merrick Garland’s ‘election monitors’ were denied access to polling locations in Cole County, Missouri.

Yesterday the Missouri Secretary of State’s office affirmed that both the Secretary of State and the Cole County Clerk have declined to allow this overreach by the DOJ.

The SOS office says it would violate state law for these federal agents to attempt to intimidate Missouri voters at the polls:

It isn’t just Missouri that Garland is targeting. He is sending federal ‘election monitors’ to 24 states according to the AP, and one of those states is Arizona:

DAILY MAIL – The Justice Department will send monitors to 24 states in an effort to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws in Tuesday’s elections.

The action, which occurs regularly on Election Day, comes as civil rights groups and the federal government have raised alarm over potential voter intimidation at some polling places and ballot boxes.

The 64 jurisdictions where federal monitors – typically lawyers with the department’s civil rights division and U.S. attorney’s offices across the United States – are going include Maricopa County, Arizona, where there have been reports of people watching ballot boxes, sometimes armed or wearing ballistic vests.

The Justice Department also announced it would be sending monitors to Cole County, Missouri, where local elections officials have said they would block the monitors.

The attorneys will be in regular touch with election officials in the locations and will watch for signs of disruption to voters´ ability to cast ballots. There is also a call-in line should voters feel they are suffering discrimination at a polling place.

The monitors are being sent to ‘protect the rights of voters,’ as they have for decades, the Justice Department said Monday.

Given the partisan nature of this DOJ under Merrick Garland, there is no way I believe they are there to simply ‘protect the rights of voters’. As Missouri’s SOS suggests, this is likely more about intimidating voters and poll workers than anything else.

 
UPDATE: The state of Florida has also denied federal ‘election monitors’ access to polling locations:


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