Justice Department to monitor voting rights across 24 states

By MICHAEL BALSAMO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is sending monitors to 24 states in an effort to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws in the midterm elections. The monitors are lawyers who work for the U.S. government. They’re not law enforcement officers or federal agents. They generally include lawyers from the Justice Department’s civil rights division and U.S. attorney’s offices across the nation. Such monitoring occurs regularly on Election Day. This year, it comes as civil rights groups and the federal government have raised alarm over potential voter intimidation at some polling places and ballot boxes. The Justice Department says the monitors are being sent to “protect the rights of voters,” as they have for decades.