Time to appeal.
TIME.COM
EXCERPT The Justice Department told federal prosecutors early Wednesday they can send armed federal law enforcement agents to polling sites where votes were still being counted to “prevent potential federal crimes,” according to an email obtained by TIME.
The advisory came in an overnight memo sent to United States attorneys nationwide after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, hours after polls had closed on Election Day. With President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr raising unsubstantiated charges for months about widespread election fraud, the memo raised immediate worries about the prospect of the Justice Department trying to help Trump by using federal agents to intervene in ballot-counting efforts.
Armed federal agents at the FBI, the Marshals Service, or other agencies are generally restricted from conducting investigations at election sites because of the prospect of intimidation. Justice Department policy guidelines note that a federal statute makes it a felony for any federal official to send troops or “armed men” to open polling places except under specific circumstances, including to repel “armed enemies” or to respond to bomb threats or active shooters.
The Justice Department email, which was also reported by the New York Times, made it clear there had been questions raised within the department about the guidance, specifically over whether polls were still considered “open” if voting had ended but counting was under way inside the polling stations. It said that “based upon further legal analysis,” officials concluded that the criminal statute “does not prevent armed federal law enforcement from responding to investigate or to prevent potential federal crimes at closed polling places or at other locations where votes are being counted or tabulated.” The email underlined the word “closed.”
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TIME.COM
EXCERPT The Justice Department told federal prosecutors early Wednesday they can send armed federal law enforcement agents to polling sites where votes were still being counted to “prevent potential federal crimes,” according to an email obtained by TIME.
The advisory came in an overnight memo sent to United States attorneys nationwide after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, hours after polls had closed on Election Day. With President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr raising unsubstantiated charges for months about widespread election fraud, the memo raised immediate worries about the prospect of the Justice Department trying to help Trump by using federal agents to intervene in ballot-counting efforts.
Armed federal agents at the FBI, the Marshals Service, or other agencies are generally restricted from conducting investigations at election sites because of the prospect of intimidation. Justice Department policy guidelines note that a federal statute makes it a felony for any federal official to send troops or “armed men” to open polling places except under specific circumstances, including to repel “armed enemies” or to respond to bomb threats or active shooters.
The Justice Department email, which was also reported by the New York Times, made it clear there had been questions raised within the department about the guidance, specifically over whether polls were still considered “open” if voting had ended but counting was under way inside the polling stations. It said that “based upon further legal analysis,” officials concluded that the criminal statute “does not prevent armed federal law enforcement from responding to investigate or to prevent potential federal crimes at closed polling places or at other locations where votes are being counted or tabulated.” The email underlined the word “closed.”
—snip—