Justice Department to Monitor Elections in Arizona

The Justice Department today announced that on Sept. 2, 2008, it will monitor primary elections in Apache and Navajo counties, Ariz., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting rights statutes.

Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the Office of Personnel Management to send federal observers to areas that are specially covered in the act or by a federal court order. Federal observers will be assigned to monitor polling place activities in Apache and Navajo Counties based on the special coverage provisions. The observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in these jurisdictions. Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, as well as departmental staff, to monitor elections across the country. To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs