FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRT

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2007 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

Justice Department to Monitor

Elections in Texas
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department today announced that on May 12, 2007,
it will monitor local elections in the Denton Independent School District, Fort Bend
County, Farmers Branch, and Killeen, Texas, to ensure compliance with the Voting
Rights Act.

Under the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department is authorized to ask the Office
of Personnel Management (OPM) to send federal observers to areas that are
specially covered in the Act itself or by a federal court order. Federal observers will
be assigned to monitor polling place activities in Fort Bend County and Farmers
Branch based on the special coverage provisions.

The observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling
locations in these jurisdictions. 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 the
Denton Independent School District and in Killeen. A Civil Rights Division
attorney in each location will coordinate the federal activities and maintain contact
with local election officials.

Each of the monitored jurisdictions has an obligation to provide all election

information, ballots and voting assistance information in Spanish as well as in
English pursuant to Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. The monitors will gather
information concerning compliance.

Each year, the Justice Department deploys hundreds of federal observers from
OPM, as well as departmental staff, to monitor elections across the country. During
calendar year 2004, a record 1,463 federal observers and 533 Department personnel
were sent to monitor 163 elections in 106 jurisdictions in 29 states. This compares
to the 640 federal observers and 110 Department personnel deployed during the
entire 2000 presidential calendar year. In 2006, another record was set for the mid-
term elections with more than 800 federal observers and Department personnel sent
to monitor polling places in 69 jurisdictions in 22 states on Election Day. The
Department’s election monitoring program also has been very active in non-federal
election years. In calendar year 2005, for example, 640 federal observers and 191
Department personnel were sent to monitor 47 elections in 36 jurisdictions in 14
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.

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