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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In an effort to preserve the integrity of the voting process by ensuring that the rights of minority voters are respected, the Justice Department is dispatching 25 federal officials to New Jersey to monitor the May 9, 2000, city election in Paterson, New Jersey.

Under the Voting Rights Act, which protects the rights of all Americans to participate in the electoral process, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the Office of Personnel Management to send federal observers to areas that are covered by court order. Observers were authorized for Passaic County by the U.S. District Court in Newark on June 4, 1999, in a consent decree between the Justice Department and Passaic County. The federal District Court recently ordered into effect a Spanish-language Outreach and Publicity Plan that was required by the 1999 Consent Decree.

Twenty-five observers will monitor polling places in Paterson to ensure that all written election materials are translated into Spanish, that the county has adequately trained poll workers to assist voters whose primary language is Spanish, and that Hispanic and Spanish-speaking voters have full and equal access to the voting process.

The observers, who are supervised by OPM, will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in the county. Two 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.