Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) will deploy poll watchers to “major counties” across the state on Election Day.
The announcement comes as the capstone to three months of allegations by Texas Republicans that state and national Democrats intend to commit widespread voter fraud — charges for which the state GOP has not provided evidence.
Paxton wrote Monday that his “Election Day Rapid Response Legal Team” would “defend the ballot box from any bad actors seeking to unduly influence or illegally undermine Texas elections.”
These teams, his office said, would act on issues ranging from “ballot shortages, extended polling location closures, and improper extension of voting hours” to “activist groups who might attempt to influence the election through litigation.”
The state attorney general’s office and secretary of state have been fighting with the Department of Justice over the federal attempt to send monitors to “enforce federal voting rights laws” in several key counties across the state — something Secretary of State Jane Nelson (R) argued was against Texas law.
“Justice Department monitors are not permitted inside a polling place where ballots are being cast or a central counting station where ballots are being counted,” Nelson wrote.
The eight counties