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FEDERAL OBSERVERS DISPATCHED TO

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department will dispatch 38 federal observers to the City of Hamtramck, Michigan to monitor the special recall election on December 12, 2000.

Under the Voting Rights Act, which protects the rights of Americans to participate in the electoral process without discrimination , the Justice Department is authorized to ask the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to areas that are specially covered in the Act.

The federal observers will monitor the treatment of Arab-American voters to ensure that they have full and equal access to the voting process and that they are not being racially targeted by poll workers or poll challengers. Observers were authorized for Hamtramck by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on August 7, 2000 in a consent decree between the Justice Department and the City of Hamtramck.

The observers, who are supervised by OPM, will watch and record activities during voting hours at the polling locations. 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.