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DeSantis administration insists federal election monitors can't go inside polling sites in Florida [1]
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Date: 2022-11-08
As some big picture context, the Justice Department said they’d be sending federal election monitors to more than 60 counties from the department’s civil rights division. The Justice Department made this announcement on Monday, and on the same day, McVay responded via letter that these monitors wouldn’t be allowed to inside polling places, per state law. He wrote that personnel of the Justice Department isn’t included “on the list” of folks who are allowed inside.
“Absent some evidence concerning the need for federal intrusion,” McVay wrote in part. “Or some federal statute that preempts Florida law, the presence of federal law enforcement inside polling places would be counterproductive and could potentially undermine confidence in the election.”
According to CNN, Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd spoke to reporters on Tuesday morning and said that the DOJ’s request to enter polling places was a departure from past years. According to Byrd, the Trump administration did send election monitors to a handful of counties in Florida in 2020, but they stayed outside.
Byrd said it’s not to be “confrontational in any way,” and when asked why the state didn’t refute the letter sent from the DOJ back in 2020, that entering polling places is “not permitted” under state law. Monitors can “go there and do their job,” Byrd continued. “But they have to do that job outside of the polling place.”
(If you were wondering who appointed Byrd, it was indeed DeSantis. And if you're wondering if he’s running for reelection, yes, he indeed is.)
As of Tuesday, the Justice Department said it did receive the letter. And that it still intends to have election monitors at the polling locations in question in Florida, but they will remain outside.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/8/2134515/-DeSantis-administration-insists-federal-election-monitors-can-t-go-inside-polling-sites-in-Florida
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