Nearly eight years after the world was introduced to “hanging chads” in the famous manual recount of the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida, the Department of Justice is sending employees to the Sunshine State for Tuesday's presidential primary.
The department today announced Broward County — the state's second-largest with an estimated population of 1.8 million — will be monitored to "ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act."
"Broward County has an obligation under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act to provide all election information, ballots and voting assistance information in Spanish as well as in English," a department statement said. "The monitors will gather information concerning compliance."
In 2004, the Justice Department deployed a record 1,463 federal observers and 533 department personnel to monitor 163 elections in 106 jurisdictions in 29 states. By comparison, only 640 observers and 110 department employees took part in 2000 elections.
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