FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1995                           (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
       TWENTY-NINE FEDERAL OBSERVERS TO MONITOR TUESDAY'S
        SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS IN TWO NEW MEXICO COUNTIES


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Twenty-nine federal observers will
monitor tomorrow's school board elections in Sandoval and Socorro
Counties, New Mexico, to ensure compliance with the counties'
agreements to provide language assistance to their Navajo and
Pueblo populations, the Department of Justice announced today.
     In 1990, the Justice Department sued Sandoval County for
failing to provide voting information in the languages of its
Pueblo and Navajo populations.  In 1993, it also sued Socorro
County for not offering language assistance to its Navajo
population.  
     Both counties entered into agreements which required them to
provide interpreters and other language-assistance to comply with
the Voting Rights Act.  These languages are unwritten and all
election information must be translated and given orally.
     "This monitoring will ensure that the Navajo and Pueblo
populations of these counties will have a full opportunity to
exercise their right to vote," said Assistant Attorney General
for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick.      
     The Justice Department will dispatch twenty-six observers to
Sandoval County, where Native Americans comprise over 19 percent
of the population.  Three observers will be sent to Socorro
County, where Navajo citizens comprise more than 10 percent of
the population.
     The observers, recruited by the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM), will watch and record activities during voting
hours at polling locations.  Three attorneys from the Civil
Rights Division will coordinate federal activities.
     Voters with complaints can call (505) 892-5193.   
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