Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said Tuesday that the DOJ tin “certainly” ticker polls from outside, arsenic they person successful erstwhile predetermination cycles. | Steve Cannon/AP Photo
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida is seeking to forestall Department of Justice predetermination monitors from entering polling centers successful respective counties aft the DOJ expanded in-person monitoring successful 24 states.
Florida officials precocious Monday sent a missive to DOJ objecting to the anticipation of national canvass watchers entering section facilities. Department of Justice monitors, according to Florida, are not included connected the database of unit allowed successful polling places, Brad McVay, wide counsel for the Florida Department of State, wrote to the feds.
State predetermination officials, led by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, stated successful its missive that Florida is dispatching “its own” staffers to ticker implicit the elections successful the 3 counties to “ensure that determination is nary interference with the voting process.”
Election officials accidental the determination is not meant to beryllium “confrontational” arsenic they articulation with Missouri successful protesting the enactment by DOJ.
“Both the authorities of Missouri, the authorities of Florida, erstwhile they told america they wanted to spell into our polling places, we wanted to marque it wide that those are places for predetermination workers and voters — not for anyone else,” Byrd told reporters Tuesday.
The DOJ is sending watchers to polling sites successful Democratic strongholds of Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties arsenic portion of an expanded effort successful 64 jurisdictions nationwide to guarantee compliance with national voting rights laws. It’s a notable summation from the statesmanlike predetermination 2 years agone erstwhile DOJ sent monitors to 44 jurisdictions successful 18 states.
The Justice Department declined to remark connected the missive Tuesday morning. But a spokesperson did accidental that DOJ officials volition show extracurricular polling locations successful Florida.
Byrd said Tuesday that the DOJ tin “certainly” ticker polls from outside, arsenic they person successful erstwhile predetermination cycles.
“They wanted to beryllium wrong the polling places, and they couldn’t supply a crushed to beryllium there, nor immoderate statutory authorization for them to beryllium there,” Byrd said. “So, we asked them that they respect Florida law.”
“This is not to beryllium confrontational successful immoderate way.”
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