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FEDERAL OBSERVERS DISPATCHED TO MONITOR MISSISSIPPI ELECTION

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department will dispatch 15 federal observers to monitor the municipal primary runoff election in the city of Clarksdale, Mississippi on May 15, 2001.

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 African-American voters, including whether they are able to receive assistance from the person of their choice and whether they are improperly turned away by poll workers.

The observers, who are supervised by OPM, will watch and record activities at polling locations during voting hours and ballot counting after polls close. Two Justice Department attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials. On May 1, 2001, the Justice Department sent observers to Clarksdale to monitor the city's primary elections.

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.