Texas AG Warns UN Group Not to Interfere in State's Elections

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has written to the UN affiliate Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to advise the organization not to interfere with his state’s elections. OSCE intends to monitor U.S. elections and, in particular, conservative poll watchers. 

On Tuesday, Abbott sent a letter to Ambassador Daan Everts of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of OSCE. In his letter, the attorney general notes that both the goals and the methods of the proposed election monitoring remain unclear. He also indicates that OSCE has identified Voter ID laws as barriers to the right to vote, based on a letter sent to OSCE by Project Vote, which Abbott describes as an organization “closely affiliated with ACORN, which collapsed in disgrace after its role in a widespread voter-registration fraud scheme was uncovered.”

Abbott notes that, in September, a federal appeals court rejected Project Vote’s challenge to Texas’s voter registration regulations, allowing his state to enforce the laws that protect the integrity of its elections.

Abbott writes:

The OSCE may be entitled to its opinions about Voter ID laws, but your opinion is legally irrelevant in the United States, where the Supreme Court has already determined that Voter ID laws are constitutional.

If OSCE members want to learn more about our election processes so they can improve their own democratic systems, we welcome the opportunity to discuss the measures Texas has implemented to protect the integrity of elections. However, groups and individuals from outside the United States are not allowed to influence or interfere with the election process in Texas. This State has robust election laws that were carefully crafted to protect the integrity of our election system. All persons–including persons connected with OSCE–are required to comply with these laws.

…The OSCE’s representatives are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place. It may be a criminal offense for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance. Failure to comply with these requirements could subject the OSCE’s representatives to criminal prosecution for violating state law.