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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO DISPATCH FEDERAL OBSERVERS

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In an effort to preserve the integrity of the voting process by ensuring that the rights of minority voters are respected, the Justice Department will dispatch 27 federal officials to Passaic County, New Jersey to monitor tomorrow's county school board election.

Under the Voting Rights Act, which protects the rights of all Americans to participate in the electoral process, the Justice Department is authorized to send federal observers to areas that are covered by a court order. In this case, a federal court in Newark authorized observers last June under a consent decree between the Justice Department and Passaic County. The federal court recently ordered into effect a Spanish-language outreach and publicity plan that was required by the June 1999 Consent Decree.

Twenty-seven observers will monitor polling places in Passaic County to ensure that all written election materials are translated into Spanish, that the county has adequately trained poll workers to assist voters whose primary language is Spanish, and that Hispanic and Spanish-speaking voters have full and equal access to the voting process.

The observers, who are supervised by the Office of Personnel Management, will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in the county. Two Justice Department attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

To lodge complaints about discriminatory voting practices in this election, voters may call the federal examiner at 1-888-496-9455. At all times, complaints about discriminatory voting practices may be called-in to the Voting Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.