Justice Dept. promises to dispatch monitors to polls. September 9, 2008
*The Associated Press is reporting of fears among civil rights groups
that an unprecedented minority voter turnout for the November presidential
election might be countered by efforts to intimidate or otherwise block
people who seek to cast their ballots.
The Justice Department pledged Monday to send election monitors
around the country to help ensure access to the polls in November, even
while acknowledging its limited power to enforce election laws, according to
the AP.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey and other Justice officials met
about 35 representatives from voter access watchdogs, hoping to assure them
that having a smooth Nov. 4 election is a priority.
"The Justice Department has a limited but extremely important role to
play in ensuring elections are fair and just," acting Assistant Attorney
General Grace Chung Becker told reporters after the closed-door
meeting.
She said the Justice Department will deploy hundreds of federal
monitors around the country to make sure voters aren't unfairly kept from
the polls.
In 2004, long lines at minority-dominated voting precincts in Ohio
led to widespread complaints and a Democratic Party lawsuit that the
election process unfairly helped President Bush win the state. A federal
judge dismissed the lawsuit nearly a year later.
--
"Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over
their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change."
- Malcolm X, Malcolm X Speaks, 1965
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