by David Lindfield
A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce restrictions on the personnel deployed as election monitors at polling places.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton rejected the NAACP’s emergency effort to block Justice Department election monitors from polling places.
The judge found that the group had not demonstrated its voter-intimidation claim was likely to succeed.
Walton ruled that the monitoring program could proceed on Election Day.
However, he ruled that it could only proceed subject to restrictions ensuring participants are unarmed administrative or clerical employees without law enforcement or arrest powers.
The decision allows the department’s monitoring operation to continue while requiring it to comply with assurances its attorneys gave the court.
Court Rejects Voter-Intimidation Argument
The NAACP sought a temporary restraining order preventing the DOJ from deploying personnel from agencies including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
The organization argued that their presence could intimidate voters and violate the Voting Rights Act.
Walton, a George W. Bush nominee, found the current record insufficient to support that argument after DOJ attorneys said sworn agents and officers would not participate.
“Thus, the Court finds that in conjunction with the defendants’ public statements regarding voter fraud and election integrity, the deployment of these individuals as election monitors would not place the average voter ‘in reasonable fear of harassment and interference with their right to vote,’” Walton wrote.
He denied the NAACP’s motion without prejudice, leaving the organization able to renew its request.
Monitors Must Be Unarmed And Without Arrest Powers
Walton made the department’s courtroom assurances enforceable through his order.
“The Court will order that the defendants comply with their counsel’s concession that they will take action to ensure that the monitors participating in the DOJ’s Poll Monitoring Program are indeed administrative or clerical personnel and not law enforcement officials, will not be in uniform or display any other insignia indicating their affiliation with a federal agency, will not be armed with a firearm, and will not have the power to effectuate arrests,” he wrote.
Monitors must introduce themselves to election officials and carry federal credentials to verify their employment if asked, even though they cannot display agency insignia.
full story at https://slaynews.com/federal-judge-orders-restrictions-doj-election-monitors/