The Justice Department announced Monday that its Civil Rights Division plans to deploy on election day more than 500 monitors to 67 jurisdictions in 28 states, including Michigan.
The monitors will be in Detroit, Hamtramck and Dearborn.
“The bedrock of our democracy is the right to vote, and the Department of Justice works tirelessly to uphold that right not only on Election Day, but every day,” Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said in a statement. "On Election Day itself, lawyers in the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section will staff a hotline starting in the early hours of the morning, and just as we have sent election monitors in prior elections, we will continue to have a robust election monitors program in place on election day." ”
On Monday and throughout Election Day, Civil Rights Division staff members will be available by telephone to receive complaints related to possible violations of the federal voting rights laws (Toll free at 1-800-253-3931 or 202-307-2767 or TTY 202-305-0082).
In addition, individuals may also report such complaints by fax to 202-307-3961, by email to voting.section@usdoj.govEmail links icon and by a complaint form on the department’s website: www.justice.gov/crt/votercomplaint.
A press release says:
The department will gather information on, among other things, whether voters are subject to different voting qualifications or procedures on the basis of race, color or membership in a language minority group; whether jurisdictions are complying with the minority language provisions of the Voting Rights Act; whether jurisdictions permit voters to receive assistance by a person of his or her choice if the voter is blind, has a disability or is unable to read or write; whether jurisdictions provide polling locations and voting systems allowing voters with disabilities to cast a private and independent ballot; whether jurisdictions comply with the voter registration list requirements of the National Voter Registration Act; and whether jurisdictions comply with the provisional ballot requirements of the Help America Vote Act. To assist in these inquiries, the department has deployed personnel who speak Spanish and a variety of Asian and Native American languages. Department personnel will also maintain contact with local election officials.
