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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO DISPATCH FEDERAL OBSERVERS TO THREE STATES

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 116 federal officials to Georgia, Mississippi and New Jersey to monitor the November 2^nd general election.

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 specially covered in the Act or by court order.

In Jeffersonville, Georgia, five observers will monitor the mayoral election to ensure that African American voters receive assistance from the person of their choice and are not intimidated by white pollworkers when asking for assistance.

In seven Mississippi counties, 71 observers will monitor the treatment of African American voters, including whether they are improperly turned away from the polls and are incorrectly told their affadavit ballots are invalid. Observers will also monitor activities to ensure that voters are not harrassed at the polls and receive assistance from the person of their choice. The counties are: Adams; Bolivar; Carroll, Chicaksaw, Humprheys, Sunflower and Tunica.

In three additional Mississippi counties, 15 observers will monitor whether the counties are providing information and assistance in the Choctaw language, as required under the minority language provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Those counties are Jones, Neshoba and Newton.

Twenty-five observers will monitor polling places in Passaic County, New Jersey 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. Information the observers obtain also will help Justice Department lawyers to assess the County's compliance with federal law obligations to make information about voting available in the Spanish language at other stages of the election process. Observers were authorized in Passaic County by the U.S. District Court in Newark on June 4, 1999, in a consent decree submitted by the Justice Department and the county.

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

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