Judge denies Missouri’s attempt to block election monitors for St. Louis

JEFFERSON CITY — A U.S. district judge in St. Louis on Monday night rejected an effort by the state of Missouri to block federal election monitors for St. Louis on Election Day.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and Attorney General Andrew Bailey, both Republicans, filed a lawsuit earlier Monday challenging the U.S. Department of Justice's plans to monitor polls in St. Louis.

U.S. District Judge Sarah E. Pitlyk held a virtual hearing on the case earlier Monday night. She later denied the state's motion for a temporary restraining order.

The Department of Justice, in response to Ashcroft's lawsuit, said monitoring in St. Louis is pursuant to a settlement agreement reached with the Board of Election Commissioners in 2021 to protect voting access for people with disabilities.

Jean Lin, special litigation counsel for the Department of Justice, told the court Monday night that to the best of her knowledge, only two monitors would be in St. Louis on Tuesday and that they would be working at the same location.

Missouri Solicitor General Josh Divine said Missouri didn't know the scope of the Department of Justice's monitoring efforts until the lawsuit was filed.

A news release the Department of Justice issued Friday only mentions St. Louis on a list of jurisdictions where federal government was going to "monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws."

The state's emergency motion for a temporary restraining order on Monday only focused on the Department of Justice's monitoring plans in Missouri.

But the state's initial lawsuit Monday asked that the Justice Department be blocked from taking poll monitoring actions within Missouri and "anywhere else within DOJ's jurisdiction."

Ashcroft said in a news release Monday morning that the federal officials were illegally attempting to interfere with polling places.

In denying Missouri's request for a temporary restraining order, Pitlyk said "the Court is not persuaded that the public's interest in enforcement of Missouri's election laws, in the absence of any non-speculative threat to election integrity, outweighs the public's interest in the enforcement of the American with Disabilities Act in response to documented harms."

The Justice Department, in the news release on Friday, said that the city of St. Louis was among 86 jurisdictions in 27 states where officials were going to monitor compliance with federal law.

The election board's 2021 settlement agreement with the Justice Department was aimed at ensuring people with mobility and vision impairments can access to polling places after federal officials found problems, such as ramps that were too steep and inaccessible parking, according to the court papers.

The settlement, which expires next year, says the board must "cooperate fully" with Justice Department's efforts to monitor compliance, "including but not limited to providing the United States with timely access to polling places (including on Election Day)."

Denise Lieberman , attorney and director of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, blasted the lawsuit in a statement Monday afternoon.

"The DOJ has a long history of monitoring federal elections under both Republican and Democrat administrations to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws," she said.

"The Secretary of State should focus on ensuring Missouri's elections are accessible to everyone rather than wasting taxpayer dollars to keep federal monitors from doing their jobs of ensuring compliance with federal laws," she said.

This isn't the first time Ashcroft has resisted federal poll watchers. A similar situation played out in Cole County in 2022.

That year, Ashcroft's office sent out a news release that said the Justice Department was told it didn't have the authority or jurisdiction to be present at a polling site unless invited by the local election authority.

This year, Ashcroft's office said the Justice Department was contacting local officials. Ashcroft criticized the move on Monday, saying the department was "trying to go through the back door" in its outreach to local authorities.

"Two years ago, we met with the DOJ. We showed them the law and explained that they have no jurisdiction to interfere in Missouri elections," Ashcroft said Monday in a statement.

"Now they are doing the same thing; trying to go through the back door by contacting local election officials and making false jurisdictional claims for access rather than contacting my office directly," Ashcroft said.

In its news release Friday, the Department of Justice said the Civil Rights Division was coordinating the monitoring effort. It said the division's Voting Rights Section enforces laws such as the Voting Rights Act and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

The division's Disability Rights Section enforces the Americans with Disabilities Act to make sure people with disabilities "have a full and equal opportunity to vote," the news release said.

Election monitors are lawyers who work for the Justice Department, including in the civil rights division and U.S. attorney's offices across the country. They are not law enforcement officers or federal agents.

For decades, the Justice Department's civil rights division has sent attorneys and staff members to monitor polling places across the country in both federal and non-federal elections. The monitors are tasked with ensuring the compliance of federal voting rights laws.

Updated at 11:18 p.m. Monday.

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Jefferson City reporter