In a sign of how distrust of the federal government has permeated Republican politics in the Trump era, Republican officials in three red states have tried to block the Justice Department from engaging in the decades-long practice of sending observers to polling places.

Two of the states, Missouri and Texas, asked federal judges to intervene, but those judges declined to do so overnight. Texas ultimately reached an agreement with the Justice Department to resolve the issue.

Officials in Florida, Texas and Missouri said in recent days that they would not allow DOJ observers to do what they have done for nearly 60 years: deploy staff to watch the vote to ensure federal laws on the matter are being followed. of civil law and voting rights are observed.

Under a 2013 Supreme Court ruling, DOJ observers only go to polling places with permission from local officials unless they have a court order. If they are not allowed inside, they address voters outside in public areas.

In their federal lawsuits, officials from Missouri and Texas argued that their state laws did not allow federal officials to be present at polling places.

“Texas law is clear,” Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson wrote in a letter to the DOJ on Friday. “Department of Justice monitors are not permitted at polling stations where ballots are cast or at a central counting station where ballots are counted.”

In a court filing Monday, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said state law “clearly and specifically limits who may be in polling places,” and accused the federal government of “attempting to illegally interfere with Missouri’s elections.”

Ashcroft is the son of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who served in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005 and had DOJ officials serve as monitors in multiple states without incident.

Florida has not filed a lawsuit, but Secretary of State Cord Byrd told the Justice Department in a letter Friday that state law does not allow DOJ officials in polling places.

In the Missouri case, the Justice Department cited a 2021 settlement with the city of St. Louis that allowed the DOJ to monitor compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Federal District Judge Sarah Pitlyk denied Missouri’s request for a temporary restraining order overnight, ruling that the damages she cited were “speculative” and outweighed by the federal interest in enforcing the disability law.

In Texas, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk took a different approach. He denied the restraining order because he said he needed more information. The DOJ could monitor polling places, he wrote, but could not send in observers without a federal court order.

Kacsmaryk ordered the DOJ to confirm that there would be “no observers” at Texas polling places.

But even before Kacsmaryk issued his order, the Texas attorney general announced an agreement with the Justice Department that allows what a DOJ spokesperson said the department had been planning all along: staying out of polling places and talking to voters . Texas subsequently dropped its lawsuit.

The Texas AG then issued a press release headlined: “Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures a Major Victory and Prevents the Biden-Harris Administration from Unlawfully Sending DOJ Personnel to Texas Election Sites.”

The Republican officials acted after the Justice Department announced it would send monitors to 86 jurisdictions in 27 states, as it has done for decades to monitor compliance with federal laws.

In an atmosphere of threats against election workers, this would be the highest number of jurisdictions audited in two decades.

The DOJ monitors are usually attorneys and regular department staff. Armed federal law enforcement officers are generally prohibited from entering polling places, which are secured by local law enforcement agencies.

In addition to the Disability Act, the DOJ also enforces the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits intimidation and threats against voters.