JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR ELECTIONS IN FLORIDA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that it will send Civil Rights Division personnel to monitor the August 31 primary election in Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Osceola Counties, Florida, to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

In each of the four counties, Justice Department personnel will monitor compliance with the language access provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Pursuant to consent decrees signed in 2002 with each county, monitors are authorized to be present in the polling places in Miami-Dade, Orange and Osceola Counties.

Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of observers and attorneys to monitor elections across the country. In 2002, the Division coordinated and sent 608 federal observers and 221 Justice Department personnel to 40 counties in 17 states to monitor 60 elections and ensure access to the polls. In 2003, the Division coordinated and sent 380 federal observers and 136 Department personnel to monitor 42 elections in 26 political subdivisions in 14 states.

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.htm.

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