After some complaints were filed with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding Riverside County’s lack of Spanish-speaking poll workers, the county’s Registrar of Voters stepped up – and the impact will be felt on Election Day.
Friday the DOJ announced that Riverside County is one of 17 jurisdictions nationwide that will see federal observers from its Civil Rights Division monitoring polling place activities to ensure there are no irregularities and that all voters have access to the ballot on Election Day.
The only other California jurisdiction on the list of 17 was Alameda County.
DOJ personnel are also expected to monitor an additional 34 jurisdictions nationwide, but none are in California.
According to Art Tinoco, chief deputy director for the Riverside County of Registrar of Voters, the groups that filed complaints have not been disclosed to his office.
“The Department of Justice did not disclose that information to us,” Tinoco said.
DOJ spokeswoman Dena Iverson declined to release the specific information to Patch.
The process of improving access to the ballot box in Riverside County began in January 2010 when the county entered into an agreement with the DOJ promising it would meet 26 standards to ensure all citizens have access during federal elections, Tinoco said.
Among the 26 conditions was ensuring that bilingual poll workers are available at polling places that serve a high number of registered voters with Spanish surnames, Tinoco said. In total, the county had to bring on 1,095 bilingual poll workers for this Tuesday’s election or face a costly legal challenge from the DOJ, Tinoco explained.
At press time, the county is short by 13 bilingual poll workers, all in Southwest Riverside County, Tinoco said.
“There are a lot of families in that area and they work,” he said. “They don’t have time to volunteer.”
[Are you bilingual and interested in helping out? Click here for more information.]
Tinoco stressed that any non-English-speaking registered voter should feel comfortable coming to the polls on Tuesday.
“If there’s anyone out there who needs assistance at the polls, we are there to help,” he said.
In the days leading up to and throughout Election Day, Civil Rights Division staff members will be available by telephone to receive complaints related to possible violations of the federal voting rights laws (toll free 1-800-253-3931 or 202-307-2767 or TTY 1-877-267-8971). In addition, individuals may also report such complaints by fax to 202-307-3961, by email to voting.section@usdoj.gov and by a complaint form on the department’s website: www.justice.gov/crt/about/vote/.
The DOJ has worked with Riverside County for many years now to correct these problems, and they had provided very clear guidelines and goals in the past which Riverside and the ROV had to meet. The DOJ's current actions are a result of the continuing complaints and the failure of the county to meet the established, agreed upon goals. I have done poll watching in the past, and personally witnessed incidents of blatant voter intimidation. It does exist and should be stopped. The focus of concern needs to shift to the voting fraud which county officials commit while local politicians along with city and county government officials turn a blind eye to it thus condoning the illegal behavior. People make such a fuss about the very small number of individual voter fraud; yet look the other way while government officials attempt to influence our elections by disenfranchising huge numbers of citizens who have the legal right to vote. Protection of voters’ rights need to be strengthened again nationally, and the FPPC needs to be strengthened here in California.
And yes I call Bullshit!
Agenda 21, One World Government, Zionist Banker Oligarchs.
The only indication we have of rampant voter fraud during this election cycle is from the firm hired by Republicans, Strategic Allied Consultants . This GOP-backed consulting firm "...may have submitted 'hundreds' of faked voter registration forms in Florida, according to the Florida Department of State. ... Strategic Allied Consultants was [also] registering voters on behalf of the RNC in five battleground states: Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada." [1] 1. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/voter-registration-fraud-gop-backed-firm-spreads/story?id=17370445#.UJUiNoasf3A
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The libs want this state to become northern mexico it will insure them the 55 electoral college votes they can secure forever!
And please don't give me the b.s. that early voting has anything to do with voter fraud. The only major fraud discovered so far in 2012 was a Republican political operative trying to destroy Democratic registrations in Florida and other states. Of course, the people who hollered so loud about ACORN in 2008 had nothing to say about this Republican fraud scheme.