Department of Justice Seal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CR

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2000

(202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV

TDD (202) 514-1888


FEDERAL OBSERVERS DISPATCHED TO MONITOR

NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NINE
STATES ACROSS THE NATION


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department will dispatch 317 federal observers to 18 counties in nine different states across the nation to monitor the general election on November 7, 2000. The nine states are Alabama, Arizona, California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Utah.

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.

Federal observers will be sent to:

  • Hale and Lowndes Counties, Alabama and Grenada County, Mississippi to monitor the treatment of African American voters;

  • Apache and Navajo Counties, Arizona; Neshoba and Newton Counties, Mississippi; Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, Sandoval, and Socorro Counties, New Mexico; and San Juan County, Utah to monitor the treatment of Native American voters;

  • Alameda County, California and Kings (Brooklyn) and New York (Manhattan) Counties, New York to monitor the treatment of Chinese American voters;

  • Wayne County (Hamtramck), Michigan to monitor the treatment of Arab American voters; and

  • Passaic County, New Jersey to monitor the treatment of Hispanic voters.

The observers, who are supervised by OPM, will watch and record activities during voting hours at the polling locations. Forty five Department of Justice personnel will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

In addition, a Voting Section attorney will be present in Flint, Michigan and another will be available in Fort Worth, Texas, to respond to election day concerns.

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.

More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice Internet site at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting.

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