Monitors from the Department of Justice will deploy in some states on Election Day on Tuesday to ensure federal voting rights laws are being followed.
Included in the list are Arizona's Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai and Navajo counties. In all, the Justice Department says 64 jurisdictions nationwide will be monitored, according to a press release from the agency Monday.
The agency says personnel from its Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorneys Offices will be sent out to ensure voters have access to cast their ballots, in compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Civil Rights Division's criminal section enforces laws prohibiting voter intimidation and suppression on the basis of race, color, national origin or religion. Earlier this month, a federal court ruled members of Clean Elections USA could not come within 75 feet of a ballot drop box or or openly carry a weapon within 250 feet, after some of the group’s members appeared masked and armed at a drop box in Mesa.
This week, Reuters reported that the Maricopa County Elections Department had documented at least 140 threats to election workers between July and August of this year.
The DOJ says it will work with local recorder's offices in jurisdictions named and that personnel will be available to answer calls from the members of the public to report possible voting rights violations.
