JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO MONITOR ELECTIONS IN GEORGIA AND MICHIGAN

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that it will send federal observers and Civil Rights Division personnel to monitor the July 20 primary election in Randolph County, Georgia and the July 20 special recall and referendum election in Hamtramck, Michigan to ensure compliance with federal election laws.

Under the Voting Rights Act, 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 a federal court order. Federal observers will be assigned to monitor polling place activities in Randolph County, Georgia pursuant to the special coverage provisions, and in Hamtramck, Michigan pursuant to a federal court order authorizing their assignment.

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, voters may call the Voting Section of the 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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