FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CR

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1998

(202)616-2765

WWW.USDOJ.GOV

TDD (202) 514-1888

FEDERAL OFFICIALS DISPATCHED TO MONITOR ARIZONA ELECTIONS

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In an effort to preserve the integrity of the voting process and to prevent the intimidation of minority voters, the Justice Department will dispatch 69 federal officials to monitor Tuesday's elections in Apache, Navajo and Yuma counties in Arizona.

Under the Voting Rights Act, which protects the rights of 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.

In Apache and Navajo counties, 64 observers will monitor polling places to ensure that the counties have adequately trained poll workers to translate the ballot terms into the Navajo language. Information the observers get also will assist Justice Department lawyers to determine whether the counties are in compliance with their federal law obligations to make information about voting available in the Navajo language at other stages of the election process.

In Yuma County, 5 federal observers will monitor polling locations to determine if the residency of Mexican-American voters is unfairly challenged. The observers also will determine whether the absentee ballots of Mexican-American voters are properly processed.

The observers, who speak the Navajo and Spanish languages and are supervised by OPM, will watch and record activities during voting hours at the polling locations, and in some cases during the counting of votes. Nine Justice Department attorneys will be in the various counties to coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact with local election officials.

To lodge complaints about discriminatory voting practices, voters may call the Voting Rights Examiner at 1-888-496-9455 through Thursday, September 10, 1998. In addition, at any time complaints of discriminatory voting practices may be made to the Voting Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.

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98-408

***NOTE: Reporters who wish to contact someone from the Office of Public Affairs can call Christine DiBartolo at (202)514-5000