FEDERAL OBSERVERS TO MONITOR ELECTION IN NEW JERSEY

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that it will send 23 federal observers to monitor tomorrow’s school board elections in Passaic County, New Jersey.

Under the Voting Rights Act, which protects the rights of all Americans to participate in the electionion process without discrimination or intimidation, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to areas that are covered by a federal court order. The U.S. District Court in Newark authorized observers for Passaic County on June 4, 1999, in a consent decree between the Justice Department and the county, as well as a Spanish language outreach and publicity plan.

The observers, supervised by OPM, will observe and record activities during voting hours at select polling locations in the county. Four Justice Department attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials. The federal observers will monitor the treatment of Hispanic and other voters to ensure they have full and equal access to the voting process.

Information provided by the federal observers will assist the Justice Department in its efforts to ensure that all written election materials have been translated into Spanish, that the county has adequately trained poll workers to assist voters whose primary language is Spanish, and that Hispanic voters have full and equal access to the voting process.

To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices in this election, including acts of harassment or intimidation, 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 website at www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm <http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting.>.

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