TEXAS, USA — In response to the U.S. Justice Department announcing that federal poll monitors will be sent to voting sites across the country, including Texas, the Texas Secretary of State's Office said they will not be allowed inside polling places.
"Texas law is clear: 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," the Texas Secretary of State, Jane Nelson, said in a letter to the DOJ.
The DOJ said it will be sending monitors to 86 jurisdictions across 27 states on Election Day, November 5. In their release, they said the monitors will be there to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws.
Among the jurisdictions listed out by the DOJ are eight Texas counties, including Harris County and Waller Counties in the Houston area, as well as Atascosa, Bexar, Dallas, Frio, Hays and Palo Pinto counties across the rest of the state.
As of Friday, the Harris County Elections Department reported more than 1.17 million county residents early voted in person.
"Rest assured that Texas has robust processes and procedures in place to ensure that eligible voters may participate in a free and fair election," the letter reads.
Gov. Greg Abbott echoed Nelson's letter, saying, "Federal monitors are not allowed to enter polling places in Texas," in a post on X.
KHOU 11 will have you covered throughout Election Day, from before polls open until well after they close.
At 4 p.m. watch KHOU 11’s live coverage on air and on KHOU 11+, which you can download for free on Roku, FireTV and AppleTV. At 6 p.m., our live streaming coverage of Election Night continues on KHOU 11+ with updates from election officials, our panel of experts, and KHOU 11 News teams spread across the city and state. Streaming coverage will continue through the night into KHOU 11 Morning News from 4:30 a.m. until 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning, and we'll have more streaming coverage on KHOU 11+ after that.
