Feds to monitor election in Clark, Washoe counties

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 | 8:50 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Justice Department plans to send civil rights lawyers and staff to Clark and Washoe counties on Tuesday to monitor the election.

Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 the department in past years has sent observers and monitors to various areas of the country prone to election controversies to safeguard election-related civil rights.

But this year the department is dispatching polling site monitors to 58 new areas, including the two Nevada counties, the department announced Thursday. Other spots that will be monitored include St. Louis; Polk County, Iowa; Wayne County, Michigan (Detroit); Kodiak Island, Alaska; and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

The election observers plan to keep track of whether or not counties comply with federal voting laws that allow all eligible voters to cast a ballot. They plan to monitor whether or not voter access to the polls is improperly challenged by election officials.

Details were not immediately available about how federal officials will monitor Clark County polling centers.

The Nevada Secretary of State's office welcomes the help, spokesman Steve George said.

"We don't have any problem with them coming," he said. "We're very happy with our preparations. We think we are going to have a good, clean election."

A department spokesman declined to say why the feds put Nevada counties on their travel list.

But Clark County may have captured their attention for several factors: early allegations of election fraud, new electronic voting machines, and the likelihood of a close election in a battleground state.

During a Sept. 14 visit to Las Vegas, President Bush himself told Gov. Kenny Guinn and Secretary of State Dean Heller that he was concerned about possible voter fraud in Clark County. Bush adviser Karl Rove reportedly spoke to Heller about it, promising federal help.

Federal officials have been scrambling to make sure states were prepared to manage fair elections.

The Justice Department is not ready to handle a large number of complaints about voting-rights violations, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this month.

But department officials say they have implemented new methods for tracking and reacting to complaints even since August.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is ready for Election Day, the division's John Tanner told the U.S. Election Assistance Commission at a meeting this week in Washington.

Tanner emphasized that only Justice Department employees, not political appointees, will be used as observers to avoid bias.

The Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington will provide guidance about voter fraud issues to U.S. Attorneys based in the states on Election Day, according to the department. The FBI also will have special agents on duty in Washington and in the states to handle election fraud and abuse complaints.

Sun Washington reporter Suzanne Struglinski contributed to this story.