MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2000
(202) 514-2007WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD
(202) 514-1888FEDERAL OBSERVERS DISPATCHED TO MONITOR ELECTIONS
IN ARIZONA AND NEW YORKWASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department will dispatch 33 federal observers to Apache and Navajo Counties in Arizona and nine federal observers to New York County (Manhattan) and Kings County (Brooklyn), New York to monitor the primary election on September 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.
In Arizona, the federal observers will monitor the implementation of Navajo language election procedures and in New York, observers will monitor New York City's compliance with Chinese language election procedures.
The observers, who are supervised by OPM, will watch and record activities during voting hours at the polling locations. Nine 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.
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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