JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR ELECTION IN CALIFORNIA

WASHINGTON, DC - The Justice Department today announced that it will send federal observers and Civil Rights Division personnel to monitor the November 16 special city council vacancy election in San Diego, California to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

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 itself or by a federal court order. Federal observers will be assigned to monitor polling place activities in San Diego pursuant to a federal court order entered on July 7, 2004.

The observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in the city. Civil Rights Division personnel will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

On June 23, 2004, San Diego County entered into a settlement agreement with the Justice Department designed to protect the voting rights of minority language voters. Under the agreement, the county must provide voting materials such as voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials and ballots in Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. The observers will gather information concerning compliance with the agreement and other issues affecting minority-language voters.

Each year, the Department of Justice deploys hundreds of observers and attorneys to monitor elections across the country. In 2002, the Department coordinated and sent 608 federal observers and 221 Department personnel to 40 counties in 17 states to monitor 60 elections and ensure access to the polls. In 2003, the Department coordinated and sent 380 federal observers and 136 Department personnel to monitor 42 elections in 26 political subdivisions in 14 states. Including the November 16 election, the Department has coordinated and sent 1,411 federal observers and 527 Department personnel to monitor 162 elections in 105 counties in 29 states during 2004.

To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call 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 website at www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.

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