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Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) sued the Department of Justice on Monday for trying to place poll monitors at polling locations in the state on Election Day.

The DOJ announced on Friday that it was planning “to monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in 86 jurisdictions in 27 states” for the general election. One of those jurisdictions is St. Louis.

The Missouri secretary of state’s office and attorney general’s office sued the DOJ over the poll monitors.

“No one is above the law,” Ashcroft said in a statement on Monday. “The law clearly and specifically limits who may be in polling places and this action by the DOJ is not allowed. Once again the federal government is attempting to illegally interfere in Missouri’s elections.”

The DOJ increased the number of jurisdictions it was monitoring from 44 jurisdictions in 18 states during the 2020 election. The day before Election Day in November 2022, the DOJ announced that it was sending election monitors to 64 jurisdictions in 24 states. 

Earlier this year, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia all said that the DOJ election monitors will not be allowed to enter polling sites in their states on Election Day.

“This is a repeat performance,” Ashcroft added. “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. 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. The DOJ just doesn’t seem to get it – we don’t need them here; we don’t want them here. This time we are taking it a step further and filing a lawsuit against the DOJ to get them to stop the continued harassment.”

“Rather than contaminate the process – like in Virginia and Alabama, the DOJ should consider the Show-Me State as the example for other states when it comes to sound non-partisan elections,” he continued. “It would be highly inappropriate for federal agents to violate the law by intimidating Missouri voters and harassing poll workers.”

“The secretary of state’s office has full confidence in our election authorities,” Ashcroft said. “Voting has been underway for several weeks and we are ready for Election Day. I want to personally thank all 116 local election authorities and the thousands of poll workers across Missouri who make our elections safe, secure and credible.”