The Justice Department announced today
that it will monitor the primary elections on May 15, 2012, in Colfax and
Douglas Counties in Nebraska, to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act
of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes. The Voting Rights Act prohibits
discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership
in a minority language group. In
addition, the Act requires Colfax County to provide language assistance in
Spanish 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 Colfax County based on a federal court order entered in 2012. The observers will watch and record
activities during voting hours at polling locations in these counties, and
Civil Rights Division attorneys will coordinate the federal activities and
maintain contact with local election officials.
In addition, Justice Department personnel will
monitor polling place activities in Douglas County. Civil Rights Division attorneys will
coordinate 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.
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