county, missouri, will be posting armed sheriff deputies inside all the polling places on election day. there's a couple ways to look at this. this election season does seem to have brought out more than its fair share of unhinged people. having law enforcement, having deputies at polling places to keep the peace is maybe not a crazy idea. but the other way to look at this is we don't have a great history in this country with armed law enforcement stalking around the polls. right now republicans are waiting to hear any minute from a federal judge who will issue a ruling on whether the national republican party has violated legal restrictions it's been under for over three decades now, restrictions that were put in place because they sent vigilante poll watchers into minority precincts during a governor's race in new jersey in the '80s. armed off-duty law enforcement officers to supposedly protect the ballot. but they stalked around minority polling places wearing guns and intimidated the heck out of voters. the republican party has been banned from election day poll watching stuff ever since because of that thing they pulled off in the '80s in new