More elected American officials need to act like this.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today advised the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe — a United Nations partner — that groups and individuals from outside the United States do not have jurisdiction to interfere with Texas elections. The Attorney General’s letter comes after the international group — comprised of 56 members including EU nations and other countries such as Albania, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, the Russian Federation, Slovenia and Turkey — announced they would be sending election observers to sites throughout the United States, including Texas, on Election Day.
Democratic groups that oppose voter ID laws — despite their widespread majority support and the fact that majorities in state legislatures have passed them — called on the UN to send monitors to states that have passed those laws. Abbott warns those whom the UN is sending, that Texans don’t like meddlers and we will enforce our laws.
Elections and election observation are regulated by state law. The Texas Election Code governs anyone who participates in Texas elections—including representatives of the OSCE. 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.
On Twitter, Abbott even fired off a Texan taunt: “Come and take it.”
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