By Howard Fischer || Capitol Media Services
Federal officials will be watching polling Tuesday in five counties in Arizona, However, no one is saying how the Department of Justice selected those five — or exactly what form that monitoring will take.
Federal officials will be watching polling Tuesday in five Arizona counties.
But no one is saying exactly how the Department of Justice selected those five — or exactly what form that monitoring will take.
In a statement Monday, the agency said it will “monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws” in 64 jurisdictions in 24 states. In Arizona, that includes Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, Pinal and Yavapai counties.
Those monitors, the agency said, will include personnel not only from its civil rights division but also offices of the U.S. Attorney for Arizona.
The concept, according to the agency, is not new.
“Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act if 1965, the Civil Rights Division has regularly monitored elections in the field in jurisdictions around the country to protect the rights of voters,” it said in the release. But that doesn’t mean other counties will escape scrutiny.
