Justice Department to monitor elections in Apache, Navajo counties

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced that it will monitor the primary elections on Aug. 24, 2010, in Apache and Navajo Counties, Ariz., to ensure compliance with the minority language requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes.  The Voting Rights Act requires these covered jurisdictions to provide language assistance in certain Native American languages during the election process.

Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to jurisdictions that are certified by the Attorney General or by a federal court order.  Federal observers will be assigned to monitor polling place activities in these counties based on the attorney general’s certification.  The observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in these jurisdictions, and Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of federal observers from OPM, as well as departmental staff, to monitor elections across the country.  To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.  Visit www.justice.gov/crt/voting/index.php for more information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws.