The U.S. Justice Department will send election monitors to Hillsborough and two other Florida counties Tuesday in a nationwide effort to ensure that voting rights laws are followed.
The three Florida counties, including Duval and Seminole, are among 29 nationwide where more than 800 Justice Department personnel will look for evidence of voter fraud, racial discrimination, attention to voters with disabilities and whether the federal law on provisional ballots is followed.
Justice Department spokesman Scot Montrey declined to say why the three Florida counties were chosen. Nor would he provide details on how many people would be at Florida polling places, saying that to divulge such information "would be inconsistent with our law enforcement function."
Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson said the federal monitors can come on down.
"Any time anybody wants to see what we're doing, I welcome that," Johnson said. "We're accustomed to being under the microscope in more ways than one."
Hillsborough was the only Florida county selected that is also known as a Section 5 county under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, meaning areas where Congress believed the chance of voting rights discrimination was highest. By law, no change in voting procedure in Florida can take effect unless the Justice Department first determines that it does not discriminate against anyone in the five affected counties.
Duval Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said he welcomed the federal monitoring. He said Tim Mellett, deputy chief of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, told him Duval was chosen because voters had raised questions about possible vote challenges on Election Day, and because of a Republican National Committee mailing sent to some Democrats that sought to verify party affiliations through the use of official-looking cards.
"We didn't want anybody to think that anybody had the ability to change someone's party," Holland said.
It is not unusual for federal officials to monitor Florida elections. In 2004, Justice Department officials visited polls in Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange and Osceola counties.
U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton in Tampa said Friday that any complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses "will be dealt with promptly and aggressively."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Mosakowski will direct the office's efforts in connection with the monitoring. Complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses can be directed to Mosakowski at (813) 274-6129.
The Justice Department Civil Rights Division has a toll-free line to handle complaints about elections: 1-800-253-3931.
Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com.
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