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TWO JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ATTORNEYS WILL MONITOR

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As indicated by Attorney General John Ashcroft last week, the Justice Department will send two attorneys to St. Louis for the March 6 election to monitor certain voting procedures in the city's municipal primary election. The Civil Rights Division attorneys will gather information on the procedures applied to voters whose names have been moved to the inactive voter list, as part of an inquiry begun after the November 2000 election.

The Civil Rights Division enforces the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits racial discrimination in the electoral process, and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which expanded voter registration opportunities and requires election officials to follow specific procedures before purging voters from registration lists.

St. Louis voters wishing to report election-day problems or to lodge complaints about voting procedures in the March 6 election may call the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931, x72767, or the United States Attorney's office in St. Louis at 314-539-2200. Media inquiries should be directed to 202-514-2008.