FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1996 (202) 616-2765
TDD (202) 514-1888
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO DISPATCH FEDERAL OFFICIALS TO
JOHNSON COUNTY, GEORGIA AND FORT DEPOSIT AND SELMA, ALABAMA
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Thirty federal observers will monitor Tuesday's run-off elections in
Georgia and Alabama, the Justice Department announced today.
According to Deval L. Patrick, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, ten observers
will monitor the special run-off election for sheriff in Johnson County, Georgia in order to
ensure that the county complies with a consent decree requiring that poll officials are fairly
selected and trained.
Patrick also said that in Alabama, six federal observers will be sent to Fort Deposit and
fourteen to Selma to monitor the mayoral elections in each city and to detect any evidence of
harassment and intimidation of black voters, as well as interference with voter assistance.
Under the Voting Rights Act, which protects the rights of racial and language minority group
members to participate in the electoral process, the Justice Department is authorized to request
the assignment of federal observers to areas that are specially covered in the Act.
The observers, employees of the Office of Personnel Management, will watch and record activities
during voting hours at several of the polling locations and during the counting of the votes.
Attorneys from the Civil Rights Division will coordinate activities in each county.
Voters in Johnson County, Georgia can report possible discriminatory voting practices to a
federal examiner at (912) 864-1766. In Alabama, voters can call the federal examiner at (334) 874-4914.
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