Justice Department to Monitor Election in South Carolina
WASHINGTON—The Justice Department today announced that on June 10, 2008, it will monitor the primary election in Williamsburg County, S.C ., to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting rights statutes. The election will include primary contests for federal, state, and county offices.
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 Williamsburg County, S.C ., based on the special coverage provisions. The observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations in this jurisdiction. A Civil Rights Division attorney will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.
Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, as well as departmental staff, to monitor elections across the country. In calendar year 2006, for example, 966 federal observers and 575 Department personnel were sent to monitor 119 elections in 81 jurisdictions in 24 states. 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.
More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm.
CRT
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888
Published on: 2008-06-09
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