    Department of Justice's Activities to Address Past
    Election-Related Voting Irregularities (14-SEP-04, GAO-04-1041R).

    Election-day problems in Florida and elsewhere in November 2000
    raised concerns about voting systems that included, among other
    things, alleged voting irregularities that may have affected
    voter access to the polls. The term voting irregularities
    generally refers to a broad array of complaints relating to
    voting and/or elections that may involve violations of federal
    voting rights and/or federal criminal law for which the
    Department of Justice (DOJ) has enforcement responsibilities. The
    Ranking Minority Members of several Congressional committees
    requested that we review activities at DOJ to help ensure voter
    access to the polls and actions to address allegations of voting
    irregularities. This report (1) identifies and describes changes
    DOJ has made since November 2000 to help ensure voter access to
    the polls; (2) identifies and describes actions that the Voting
    Section in DOJ's Civil Rights Division has taken to track,
    address, and assess allegations of election-related voting
    irregularities received between November 2000 and December 2003;
    and (3) assesses the Voting Section's internal control activities
    to help ensure relevant, accurate, and reliable recording and
    documentation of allegations of voting irregularities to
    accurately track actions taken in response to allegations and
    provide accurate and complete information to the public and
    congressional committees.
    -------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
    REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-1041R
        ACCNO:   A12461
      TITLE:     Department of Justice's Activities to Address Past
    Election-Related Voting Irregularities
         DATE:   09/14/2004
      SUBJECT:   Civil rights
    	     Elections
    	     Federal records management
    	     Intergovernmental relations
    	     Public relations
    	     Voting records
    	     Internal controls
    	     Documentation
    	     Voting systems
    	     DOJ Interactive Case Management System

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    GAO-04-1041R

    United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548

    September 14, 2004

    The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman Ranking Minority Member Committee on
    Governmental Affairs United States Senate

    The Honorable Henry A. Waxman Ranking Minority Member Committee on
    Government Reform House of Representatives

    The Honorable John Conyers, Jr. Ranking Minority Member Committee on the
    Judiciary House of Representatives

    Subject: Department of Justice's Activities to Address Past
    Election-Related Voting Irregularities

    Election-day problems in Florida and elsewhere in November 2000 raised
    concerns about voting systems that included, among other things, alleged
    voting irregularities that may have affected voter access to the polls.
    The term voting irregularities generally refers to a broad array of
    complaints relating to voting and/or elections that may involve violations
    of federal voting rights and/or federal criminal law for which the
    Department of Justice (DOJ) has enforcement responsibilities.

    You requested that we review activities at DOJ to help ensure voter access
    to the polls and actions to address allegations of voting irregularities.
    This report (1) identifies and describes changes DOJ has made since
    November 2000 to help ensure voter access to the polls; (2) identifies and
    describes actions that the Voting Section in DOJ's Civil Rights Division
    has taken to track, address, and assess allegations of election-related1
    voting irregularities received between November 2000 and December 2003;
    and (3) assesses the Voting Section's internal control2 activities

    1Election-related refers to a preliminary investigation, matter, or case
    that the Voting Section initiated based on allegations about a specific
    election. A matter is an activity that has been assigned an identification
    number but has not resulted in a court filing of a complaint, indictment,
    or information. A case is an activity that has been assigned the same
    identification number that it had as a matter and has resulted in the
    court filing of a complaint, indictment, or information.

    2Internal controls are integral components of an organization's management
    that provide reasonable assurances of objectives that include, among other
    things, efficient operations. They comprise the plans, methods, and
    procedures used to meet missions, goals, and objectives and, in doing so,
    support performance-based management. For additional information on
    internal controls, see GAO Internal Control: Standards for Internal
    Control in the Federal Government, AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington,
    D.C.:November 1, 1999).

    to help ensure relevant, accurate, and reliable recording and
    documentation of allegations of voting irregularities to accurately track
    actions taken in response to allegations and provide accurate and complete
    information to the public and congressional committees.

    We primarily performed our work at DOJ's Civil Rights Division, Voting
    Section. We obtained relevant documentation and interviewed responsible
    officials regarding DOJ's activities to help ensure voter access to the
    polls. To identify and describe changes made since November 2000, we
    reviewed documentation on DOJ's efforts to monitor and observe elections,
    increase emphasis on enforcement of minority language and overseas voters'
    rights, disseminate election-related guidance, and increase its resources
    to address voting issues. To identify and describe actions that the Voting
    Section took to track, address, and assess allegations of voting
    irregularities, we reviewed telephone logs and 34 files with information
    on a preliminary investigation, matters, and cases that the Voting Section
    considered to be election-related voting irregularities initiated from
    November 2000 to December 2003. To assess the Voting Section's internal
    controls, we obtained available documentation of policies, procedures, and
    techniques the Voting Section has to manage allegations of voting
    irregularities and considered them in relation to GAO's internal control
    standards. We also interviewed officials and obtained documentation from
    DOJ's Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section (PIN), in relation to
    the coordination between the Voting Section and PIN to address voter
    access to the polls.

    On August 31, 2004, we provided your staffs a briefing document on the
    results of our work. Enclosure I contains the materials we presented at
    that time. Our audit work was performed in Washington, D.C., from May 2003
    through August 2004 in accordance with generally accepted government
    auditing standards.

    Background

    The Voting Section in the Civil Rights Division is charged with the
    responsibility of enforcing federal voting rights statutes that are
    designed to safeguard the right to vote of racial and language minorities;
    disabled, elderly, and illiterate persons; and military and overseas
    voters, among others. The Voting Section is also charged with the
    responsibility of enforcing federal statutes that, among other things,
    address issues such as voter registration, provisional voting, and voter
    information. Provisional voting permits eligible persons to vote on
    election day if their names are not on voter registration lists, with the
    understanding that each person's eligibility will be verified after the
    election and their votes counted, if eligible. (See enc. I, and attach. I,
    for more information on statutes that the Voting Section enforces.)

    The Voting Section, among other things, monitors election-day activities
    to ensure voting rights are protected and initiates investigations and
    opens matters-an activity that has not resulted in a court filing of a
    complaint, indictment, or information-to examine allegations of voting
    irregularities that fall within the jurisdiction of the Civil Rights
    Division. If warranted, a matter may culminate in a case-an activity that
    has resulted in the filing of a complaint, indictment, or information with
    a federal court.

    The Voting Section also may initiate matters to monitor private lawsuits.
    Voting Section attorneys are generally responsible for conducting
    investigations and prosecuting cases.

    The Voting Section also coordinates with PIN to refer allegations the
    Voting Section receives that involve violations of criminal statutes
    related to voting fraud. For example, in relation to the 2002 federal
    election, the Voting Section referred three matters deemed to be potential
    violations of criminal laws to PIN, which assumed responsibility for the
    investigations. In addition, the Voting Section and PIN have provided
    joint training to Assistant U.S. Attorneys, with the Voting Section
    presenting information about civil rights statutes that are to protect the
    right to vote and PIN presenting information about criminal statutes that
    are to prevent election fraud.

    Results

    Since November 2000, DOJ has implemented changes to help ensure voter
    access to the polls. The Voting Section emphasized the importance of its
    monitoring of election-day activities and increased its monitoring of
    these activities. In 2000, DOJ attorneys and professional staff monitored
    elections in 5 counties in 5 states. By 2002, the number of election
    jurisdictions monitored by DOJ attorneys and professional staff increased
    to 19 counties in 10 states, with monitoring of elections in counties in
    Florida accounting for the bulk of the increase. The Voting Section also
    (1) placed a greater priority on protecting the voting rights of language
    minority voters by helping to ensure that certain covered jurisdictions
    provided bilingual voting materials for elections; (2) placed a priority
    on enforcing and preparing for compliance with the federal statute to help
    ensure voting rights of overseas voters; (3) provided additional training
    to Assistant U.S. Attorneys on civil rights statutes to educate them about
    voters' rights; and (4) provided guidance to states regarding the
    implementation of sections of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA)
    that DOJ enforces.3 For example, the Voting Section provided guidance to
    states by issuing a press release that outlined provisions of HAVA that
    took effect on January 1, 2004, such as provisional voting and
    identification requirements for new voters who register by mail.

    The Attorney General directed the Civil Rights Division to work with civil
    rights leaders, state and local election officials, and U.S. Attorney
    Offices prior to election day in an effort to help ensure that citizens'
    voting rights are protected. The Attorney General also directed the
    Criminal Division to work with these same groups in helping to preserve
    ballot integrity and prevent election offenses. Almost all of the U.S.
    Attorney Offices reported that they had contacted various state or local
    officials prior to the November 2002 election. Voting Section officials
    reported that the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division
    and staff from that division met with various civil rights organizations.

    3 42 U.S.C. S:S: 15301 to 15545.

    According to Voting Section officials, DOJ plans to help ensure voter
    access for the upcoming November 2004 election include increasing its
    monitoring of elections, coordinating with civil rights organizations, and
    establishing procedures for bringing the concerns of civil rights
    organizations about specific issues or jurisdictions to DOJ on or before
    election day in November 2004. Voting Section officials also said that
    final decisions as to where monitoring will be conducted are not made
    public until shortly before an election. (See enc. I for more
    information.)

    The Voting Section has used several means of tracking allegations of
    voting irregularities and the Section's actions with regard to those
    allegations. First, the Voting Section used telephone logs to track
    telephone calls regarding allegations of voting irregularities it received
    related to the November 2000 and 2002 elections. According to the Voting
    Section, contractors were hired to help handle the unprecedented number of
    calls that were received concerning the November 2000 election situation
    to help ensure that the public would be able to voice opinions and
    concerns. Second, DOJ tracks matters and cases through its Interactive
    Case Management (ICM) system-its formal process for tracking and managing
    work activities. Prior to opening a matter, the Voting Section may make a
    determination that an allegation does not fall within DOJ's jurisdiction
    or may initiate a preliminary investigation about an allegation. Third,
    the Voting Section tracked monitoring of elections using logs and for some
    election-monitoring activities they opened matters; thus, it has not
    routinely tracked election-monitoring activities through the ICM system.
    (See enc. I for more information.)

    Actions that Voting Section attorneys took to address allegations of
    voting irregularities initiated from November 2000 to December 2003
    included contacting cognizant election officials at the state and local
    levels; obtaining data as appropriate; interviewing voters affected by
    alleged voting irregularities; meeting with minority groups; and assessing
    the merits of the allegations to determine what, if any, further action
    was needed. Attorneys in the Voting Section addressed allegations of
    voting irregularities by first determining whether the allegations were
    related to violations of federal civil rights statutes and then, if
    warranted, initiating a preliminary investigation or matter to determine
    whether an allegation had merit. If warranted, a matter may culminate in a
    case that is filed with a federal court. We reviewed files for 1 closed
    preliminary investigation, 25 closed matters, and 8 open and closed cases
    that the Voting Section considered election-related. The preliminary
    investigation and 13 matters were closed because they lacked merit. The
    remaining 12 matters were closed because the state or voting jurisdiction
    took action to remedy an issue, a state court issued an order addressing
    the issue, the voting jurisdiction implemented changes for future
    elections, or Voting Section attorneys provided election officials
    feedback following the on-site monitoring of elections. Six cases remain
    open pending fulfillment of consent decrees entered into on behalf of DOJ
    and the jurisdiction in alleged violation of federal statute, and two
    cases were closed because states had taken action in response to consent
    decrees. Enclosure I and attachment IV provide detailed information on
    actions taken regarding selected matters and cases that the Voting Section
    considered as involving election-related voting irregularities initiated
    from November 2000 to December 2003.

    Regarding internal controls, we found that the Voting Section did not have
    a reliable method to consistently record and document telephone calls
    received alleging voting irregularities. According to Voting Section
    officials, the number of calls received following the November 2000
    election far exceeded the number received in past elections. As a result,
    the Voting Section used a contractor to assist in handling the telephone
    calls. To track some of the telephone calls related to the November 2000
    election, Voting Section and contractor staff used telephone logs that had
    several broad categories to capture the subject of the allegation, rows
    for states from which the calls originated and, for the most part,
    tabulated the numbers of calls using tick marks. Voting Section staff also
    kept two other types of logs to record some telephone calls, which
    included columns to record a caller's name, state, telephone number, and
    description of the call. Our analysis of the contractor telephone logs
    found, among other things, that these logs did not include a way to record
    calls from 4 states-Arkansas, Kansas, Montana, and North Dakota. According
    to Voting Section officials, these 4 states were left off the contractor
    logs inadvertently, although these officials noted that they were unaware
    of any calls received from these states. Our analysis of logs that Voting
    Section staff completed found that Voting Section staff recorded having
    received calls from some of these states. The Voting Section improved upon
    the telephone log for the November 2002 election by having one log that
    consistently provided for documenting the caller's name, telephone number,
    and action taken. Compared with the telephone log that contractor staff
    maintained and one of the three types of logs that Voting Section staff
    maintained after the November 2000 election, which had several columns to
    broadly categorize the subject of the telephone calls, the November 2002
    log included one column to capture the subject of the telephone calls. The
    Voting Section plans to take several actions to address voting
    irregularities for the November 2004 election, including, among other
    things, using a telephone log similar to the one used for the November
    2002 election. The Voting Section did not provide written instructions to
    contractors for completing the telephone logs related to the 2000
    election. However, for the November 2002 federal election, the Voting
    Section provided instructions to DOJ staff for how to handle calls from
    citizens, the press, members of Congress, and others. In addition to its
    method for recording and documenting telephone calls received regarding
    voting irregularities, we found that the Voting Section did not routinely
    track its electionmonitoring activities through its ICM system. The Voting
    Section said that it has plans to assign one identification number to
    track these activities in the future. (See enc. I for more information.)

    In conclusion, lack of specifics about allegations and actions limits
    DOJ's ability to have accurate and clear information to share with the
    public or Congress about the types of allegations received and actions
    taken. Predictions of another close presidential election in November 2004
    combined with possible voter confusion over new requirements in the Help
    America Vote Act-such as the implementation of provisional voting in
    states that had not previously used provisional voting-and possible
    questions regarding voting equipment could result in the Voting Section
    again receiving a very large number of telephone calls. This could result
    in the need to use contractors to record voter allegations because much of
    the Voting Section staff will be monitoring election sites on election
    day. It is important that the

    information collected be as complete, accurate, and specific as possible
    regarding specific allegations. If the Voting Section collects more
    precise information about voter allegations, it is in a better position to
    assure the public that it has addressed allegations of voting
    irregularities. Moreover, if it documents actions taken more precisely, it
    is better able to reassure the public and Congress of its commitment to
    enforce federal voting rights statutes.

    The Voting Section emphasized the importance of its monitoring of
    election-day activities, but the monitoring program has not been routinely
    tracked in the Voting Section's ICM system. We believe the significance of
    this program warrants a more formal tracking of monitoring efforts and
    resources dedicated to the program to allow for reliable, relevant, and
    timely information for management decision making and for external
    reporting purposes.

    Recommendations for Executive Action

    Confidence in our election processes is of utmost importance. To help
    ensure confidence in the integrity of voting processes, the Voting Section
    plays an important role in addressing voting irregularities. By accurately
    recording and documenting its activities in as clear a manner as possible,
    the Voting Section contributes to assuring the public and Congress of the
    integrity of our voting processes and that allegations of voting
    irregularities have been addressed.

    To reassure citizens of the integrity of our election processes and to
    reassure the public and Congress of DOJ's commitment to its responsibility
    to enforce federal voting rights statutes, we recommend that the Attorney
    General direct the Chief of the Voting Section to take the following two
    actions

    o  	develop and implement procedures for the November 2004 election to
    help ensure that the Voting Section has a reliable method of tracking and
    documenting allegations of voting irregularities and actions taken to
    address them. Procedures could include more precise categories to record
    types of allegations and actions taken; development of instructions on
    completing the telephone logs; and development and implementation of
    training for contractors, should they be needed; and

    o  	implement a method to track and report on election-monitoring
    activities in the ICM system.

    Agency Comments

    We provided a draft of this report to DOJ for review and comment. The
    draft report sent to DOJ for comment reflected changes made as a result of
    DOJ's prior detailed review of attachment IV in enclosure I and changes
    DOJ requested in writing following our exit conference with them. In
    commenting on the draft, DOJ generally agreed with the report and
    recommendations. The Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil
    Rights Division accepted both recommendations and said that the

    Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division has directed
    their implementation.

    In commenting on our recommendation for the Civil Rights Division to track
    and report on election-monitoring activities in the ICM system, DOJ noted
    that it currently has procedures that effectively track
    election-monitoring activities. Our report acknowledges that the Division
    had information on election monitoring. However, the Voting Section told
    us that they did not routinely track election-monitoring activities in the
    ICM system-its formal process for tracking and managing work activities.
    Because we had asked for clarification of the confusing and unclear
    information previously provided on election monitoring and tracking, the
    Civil Rights Division, in a May 25, 2004, written response provided
    clarifying information that explained the different databases and data
    from logs that were used to capture information on election monitoring. In
    this written response, the Civil Rights Division included four charts on
    election monitoring that had been recently created, one for each calendar
    year from 2000 through 2003 (but not for 2004, as the Division states it
    did). In addition, the Civil Rights Division said that it had asked for a
    program that would provide the types of reports and data that the Division
    is routinely asked to provide regarding the election-monitoring program.
    Our recommendation is directed toward improving the Voting Section's
    tracking of election-monitoring activities, which the Voting Section has
    emphasized as being a very important part of its efforts to help ensure
    voter access to the polls. Tracking election-monitoring activities in the
    ICM system would ensure that this important component of the Voting
    Section's work is incorporated into the Division's formal process for
    tracking and managing work activities.

    After we provided DOJ with a copy of the draft report that included this
    correspondence and its enclosure for review and comment, Civil Rights
    Division officials realized they had not provided us with information on
    all of the telephone logs used following the November 2000 election. The
    Civil Rights Division subsequently provided that additional information,
    which showed that Voting Section staff used two additional types of logs
    for the November 2000 election. These logs included columns to record
    callers' names, telephone numbers, states, and descriptions of the calls.
    This new information was incorporated into our report to accurately
    reflect the Voting Section's activities to track telephone calls following
    the November 2000 election. (See p. 5 in this letter and p. 42 in enc. I.)
    According to the Civil Rights Division, the November 2002 log, which it
    proposes as the basis for documenting telephone calls related to the
    upcoming November 2004 elections, was the only one used by Voting Section
    staff for the November 2002 election.

    DOJ noted that the draft report discussion of the Civil Rights Division's
    use of telephone logs focused almost exclusively on the logs maintained by
    contractors, that the draft report failed to note that these logs were
    only a small portion of all the records of telephone calls received by the
    Division, and that any shortcomings in these logs were extremely unlikely
    to have changed the course of subsequent investigations. As we note in our
    report, it was difficult to obtain precise information on the number of
    calls or the specific nature of alleged irregularities from the

    telephone logs on the November 2000 election. The information that the
    Voting Section collected on its telephone logs was not precise enough to
    support the Division's statements that upwards of 95 percent of the calls
    received regarding the November 2000 election reflected citizen
    frustration or anger over the election, that the vast majority of the
    calls that contractors received came from New York and California, or that
    the vast majority of the calls from those two states expressed frustration
    over the situation in Florida. Moreover, it is important to note that our
    recommendation with regard to recording complaints about voting
    irregularities for the November 2004 election is based on the limitations
    of the log used in November 2002 and the lack of a clear plan for
    accurately recording a potentially large volume of complaints that may
    arise from the November 2004 election. For example, November 2004 will be
    the first national election in which all states will be implementing
    HAVA's new voter identification and provisional voting requirements with
    which many voters may be unfamiliar.

    In its comments, DOJ said that the Civil Rights Division invited us to
    meet with Voting Section staff who worked during the time of the November
    2000 election and that we declined this invitation. We did not receive an
    invitation from officials in the Civil Rights Division, who arranged our
    meetings with Voting Section staff, to meet to discuss the November 2000
    election logs. Throughout this review, we requested meetings with Voting
    Section and Civil Rights Division officials. It is always our preference,
    as part of our work, to meet with agency officials to discuss issues and
    questions we may have about agency processes, procedures, and
    documentation. However, Civil Rights Division officials preferred that we
    provide questions in writing and to respond to those questions in writing.
    The Civil Rights Division sometimes took weeks to respond in writing,
    which contributed significantly to the length of time it took us to
    complete our review. Had Civil Rights Division officials been more willing
    to meet with us to explain the Voting Section's processes and discuss the
    documentation provided to us, rather than rely on written questions and
    responses, the time required for this review could have been significantly
    reduced.

    DOJ's written comments are in attachment V. DOJ also provided technical
    comments from the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and from
    the Civil Rights Division, which we incorporated as appropriate. The Civil
    Rights Division provided additional information on cases initiated for
    calendar years 2002, 2003, and 2004. The 2002 and 2003 cases involved
    enforcement under Sections 2 and 208 of the Voting Rights Act and were not
    clearly identifiable in the ICM system as also involving language minority
    issues under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. The Civil Rights
    Division subsequently identified these cases as including enforcement of
    language minority violations, and we have included them in our report.
    Information on cases initiated in calendar year 2004 had not been included
    because our review covered complete calendar years, but we have added
    information on cases initiated in 2004 as of August 2004 as a courtesy to
    the Division.

                                  ___ ___ ___ ___ ____

    As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly release its contents
    earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days from
    its issue date. At that time, we

    will send copies of this report to the Attorney General, Department of
    Justice;
    Chairman, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs; Chairman, House
    Committee
    on Government Reform; Chairman, House Committee on the Judiciary; Chairman
    and
    Ranking Minority Member, House Committee on House Administration; and
    Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Senate Committee on Rules and
    Administration. Copies of this report will be made available to other
    interested
    parties upon request. This report will also be available on GAO's Web site
    at
    http://www.gao.gov. If you have any questions, please contact me at (202)
    512-8777 or
    by e-mail at jenkinswo@gao.gov or Linda Watson, Assistant Director, at
    (202)
    512-8685 or by e-mail at watsonl@gao.gov. Key contributors to this report
    were
    Katherine Davis, Gina Flacco, Evan Gilman, Geoffrey Hamilton, Mary Martin,
    Maria Santos, and Daniele Schiffman.

    William O. Jenkins, Jr.
    Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues

    Enclosures

    Enclosure I

                                      Enclosure I

                             DOJ Activities to Address Past
                         Election-Related Voting Irregularities

                           Results of work completed for the
                             Ranking Minority Member of the
                         House Committee on Government Reform,
                             Ranking Minority Member of the
                         House Committee on the Judiciary, and
                                 Ranking Member of the
                        Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs

                                    August 31, 2004

                                      Enclosure I

                                        Contents

    o  Objectives

    o  Results in Brief

    o  Scope and Methodology

    o  Background

    o  Changes to Ensure Voter Access

    o  Actions to Track, Address, and Assess Allegations

    o  Assessment of Internal Controls

    o  Conclusions

    o  Recommendations

    o  Attachment I-Federal Voting Rights Statutes

    o  Attachment II-Role of the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section

    o  Attachment III-Election Jurisdictions Monitored during 2000-2003

    o 	Attachment IV-Election-Related Preliminary Investigation, Matters, and
    Cases Initiated from November 2000 to December 2003

    o  Attachment V-Agency Comments

    Enclosure I

    This briefing addresses the following objectives:

    1.	Identify and describe any changes the Department of Justice (DOJ) has
    made since November 2000 to help ensure voter access to the polls.

    2.	Identify and describe any actions that the Voting Section in DOJ's
    Civil Rights Division has taken to track (monitoring work initiated and
    actions taken), address, and assess allegations of electionrelated voting
    irregularities received between November 2000 and December 2003.

    o 	Election-related refers to a preliminary investigation, matter, or case
    that the Voting Section initiated pursuant to an allegation about a
    specific election.

                                      Enclosure I

    o 	A preliminary investigation is an investigation into an allegation that
    has not been assigned an identification number. A matter is an activity
    that has been assigned an identification number but has not resulted in a
    court filing of a complaint, indictment, or information. A case is an
    activity that has been assigned the same identification number that it had
    as a matter and has resulted in the court filing of a complaint,
    indictment, or information.

    o 	Voting irregularities, for purposes of this review, generally refer to
    a broad array of complaints relating to voting and/or elections that may
    involve violations of federal voting rights and/or federal criminal law
    for which DOJ has enforcement responsibilities.

    3. 	Assess the Voting Section's internal control activities to help ensure
    relevant, accurate, and reliable recording and documentation of
    allegations of voting irregularities for management decision-making and
    external reporting purposes.

    o 	Internal controls are integral components of an organization's
    management that provide reasonable assurance of objectives that include,
    among other things, efficient operations. They comprise the plans,
    methods, and procedures used to meet missions, goals, and objectives and,
    in doing so, support performance-based management.

                                      Enclosure I

    1.	Since November 2000, DOJ has increased its monitoring of election
    activities on election day, provided additional training to Assistant U.S.
    Attorneys on civil rights laws, placed a greater priority on protecting
    the voting rights of language minorities and overseas voters, and provided
    guidance to states regarding implementation of the Help America Vote Act
    (HAVA).

    2.	The Civil Rights Division tracks matters and cases through a case
    management system. Telephone calls related to the 2000 and 2002 federal
    elections were tracked using telephone logs. The Voting Section addressed
    allegations of voting irregularities by contacting cognizant officials,
    obtaining data if deemed appropriate, and assessing the merits of the
    allegation to determine what, if any, further action was needed.

    3.	The Voting Section tracked the unprecedented volume of telephone calls
    related to the November 2000 election by using logs. Some logs had several
    broad categories to capture the subject of the calls and rows for states
    from which the calls originated, while other logs contained callers'
    names, contact information, and description of the calls. The Voting
    Section improved upon the telephone log for the November 2002 election by
    including categories to capture the action taken on each call and to
    record the caller's name, telephone number, and subject of the call. The
    Voting Section tracked some monitoring of elections by assigning matter
    identification numbers.

    Enclosure I

                                 Scope and Methodology

    Enclosure I

                                         Scope

    To address our objectives, we performed work at DOJ's:

    o  Civil Rights Division's Voting Section,

    o  Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section (PIN),

    o  Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Public Corruption Unit, and

    o  Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA).

    Enclosure I

    Methodology Objective 1

    To identify changes in DOJ's efforts to help ensure voter access to the
    polls, we

    o  gathered documentation on DOJ's efforts to

    o  monitor and observe elections,

    o 	increase emphasis on enforcement of minority language and overseas
    voters' rights,

    o  disseminate election-related guidance, and

    o  increase its resources to address voting issues, and

    o 	interviewed responsible officials primarily in DOJ's Voting Section and
    PIN.

    Enclosure I

    Methodology Objective 2

    To identify DOJ's actions to track, address, and assess allegations of
    voting irregularities, we

    o 	interviewed officials in the Voting Section about procedures for
    tracking, addressing, and assessing allegations of voting irregularities;

    o 	analyzed information on the approximately 11,000 reported telephone
    calls made to the Voting Section about the November 2000 election; and

    o 	reviewed all files that the Voting Section identified as those it
    considered to be election-related voting irregularities that were
    initiated from November 2000 to December 2003. This included 1 closed
    preliminary investigation, 25 closed matters, and 8 closed and open cases.
    The Voting Section tracks its matters and cases based on statutes it
    enforces and not on whether an allegation relates to a specific election.
    Consequently, the Voting Section had to identify for us the preliminary
    investigation, matters, and cases that it considered to be
    election-related voting irregularities.

    Enclosure I

                                       Background

                                     Voting Section

    Enclosure I

                                       Background

    Voting Section responsibilities include:

    o 	enforcing the Voting Rights Act, which is designed to safeguard the
    right to vote of racial and language minorities and illiterate persons,
    among other provisions;

    o 	enforcing federal statutes designed to safeguard the right to vote of
    disabled, elderly, military, and overseas voters; and

    o 	enforcing provisions of the National Voter Registration Act, and the
    Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which address issues such as voter
    registration, provisional voting, and voter information.

    Attachment I provides more information on statutes that the Voting Section
    enforces.

    Enclosure I

                                       Background

    The Voting Section, among other things, monitors election-day activities
    to ensure voting rights are protected and initiates investigations and
    opens matters to examine allegations of voting irregularities that fall
    within the jurisdiction of the Civil Rights Division. If warranted, a
    matter may culminate in a case that is filed with a federal court.

    Voting Section attorneys are generally responsible for conducting

    investigations and prosecuting civil cases. The Voting Section also may
    initiate matters to monitor private lawsuits.

    The Voting Section coordinates with the Criminal Division's Public
    Integrity Section (PIN) to help ensure voters' rights are protected, such
    as referring three allegations to PIN about possible election crimes
    related to the 2002 election. (See attach. II for more information about
    PIN's election-related responsibilities.)

    Enclosure I

                                       Background

    The following table provides information on all matters and cases
    initiated by the Voting Section in calendar years 2000 through 2003.

         Year initiated              Matters          Cases          Total
                  2000                  70              18            88
                  2001                  53              6             59
                  2002                 127              18            145
                  2003                  99              4             103
                  Total                349              46            395

    Source: GAO analysis of data from DOJ's Civil Rights Division's Voting
    Section.

    According to Voting Section officials, the number of matters was higher in
    2002 because the Voting Section initiated new matters for each of the over
    80 newly covered jurisdictions required by the Voting Rights Act to
    provide bilingual election materials and assistance to language minority
    citizens. Following the 2000 Census, DOJ, in conjunction with the U.S.
    Census Bureau, identified these 80 jurisdictions. The Voting Rights Act
    requires jurisdictions to provide language minority assistance when
    certain criteria are met, such as when more than 5 percent of the citizens
    of voting age, or more than 10,000 of the citizens of voting age, are
    members of a single language minority group, and are unable to speak or
    understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral
    process.

    Enclosure I

                                       Background

    As shown in the following table, the Voting Section's positions for
    attorneys (authorized and on-board) increased since the beginning of
    fiscal year 2000.

            Time period        Authorized attorney positions  Attorneys on-board
           Start FY 2000                    34                        31
            End FY 2000                     36                        35
            End FY 2001                     47                        40
            End FY 2002                     47                        42
            End FY 2003                     41                        38
        As of April 16, 2004                41                        39

    Source: DOJ's Civil Rights Division's Voting Section.

    The number of authorized and on-board attorneys declined at the end of
    fiscal year 2003 because the number of submissions to the Voting Section
    for redistricting changes following the 2000 Census began to decline that
    year, according to Voting Section officials. Every 10 years, after the
    federal census, states redraw their legislative election districts to make
    these districts equal in population. The process of drawing new election
    district boundaries is called redistricting.

    Enclosure I

                          Changes to Help Ensure Voter Access

    Enclosure I

    Since November 2000, DOJ focused on ensuring voter access to the polls by

    o  placing more emphasis on its election-monitoring program,

    o 	providing additional training for certain Assistant U.S. Attorneys who
    handle election-related issues that included placing more emphasis on
    handling civil rights issues,

    o 	directing U.S. Attorney Offices to contact election and other officials
    at the state and local level to offer assistance prior to election day,

    o 	placing greater priority on enforcing the voting rights of language
    minorities and overseas voters, and

    o  providing guidance to states regarding HAVA implementation.

    Enclosure I

    In March 2001, the Attorney General announced that DOJ was placing more
    emphasis on its election-monitoring program. The Attorney General is
    authorized by law to notify the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of
    the need to assign federal observers to monitor polling place activities
    on election day in counties that the Attorney General has certified under
    the Voting Rights Act and in counties authorized by federal court orders.
    The Attorney General delegates the authority with respect to federal
    observers to the Voting Section. The Voting Section's decision to request
    federal observers is based on past experience or investigations that
    indicated observers may be needed to protect voting rights. (See attach. I
    for information on the law authorizing federal observers.)

    In addition to OPM federal observers, the Voting Section assigns DOJ
    attorneys and professional staff to monitor election day activities in
    local jurisdictions throughout the United States, whether or not the
    locations have been certified under the Voting Rights Act. This additional
    monitoring is part of the Voting Section's investigations of possible
    voting rights violations. Unlike OPM observers, DOJ attorneys and
    professional staff do not have specific statutory right of access to
    polling places and must get authority from the appropriate state and/or
    local officials for them to enter polling places.

    Enclosure I

    DOJ attorneys and professional staff are assigned to these jurisdictions
    when there may be insufficient time to arrange for federal observers in
    covered jurisdictions, or when the results of Voting Section staff's
    preelection investigations indicate the need for some limited federal
    presence.

    The Attorney General directed the Voting Section to increase resources
    devoted to the election-monitoring program through the use of OPM federal
    observers and DOJ attorneys and professional staff.

    The level of resources used and number of elections monitored were greater
    in federal election years (even-numbered years) than other years, as shown
    in the next figure.

    Enclosure I

    The number of OPM federal observers and DOJ attorneys and professional
    staff were greater in the 2002 elections than in the 2000 elections.
    Similarly, more elections were monitored in 2002 than in 2000.

    Note: DOJ monitors are attorneys and professional staff.

    Enclosure I

    OPM federal observers are always accompanied by DOJ attorneys and
    professional staff when monitoring elections and were present for
    elections held during calendar years 2000 through 2003 in Attorney
    General-certified and court-ordered counties and jurisdictions in several
    states. In a few instances, DOJ attorneys and professional staff
    independently monitored elections in these Attorney General-certified and
    court-ordered counties and jurisdictions.

    DOJ attorneys and professional staff also independently monitored
    elections in counties and jurisdictions that were not Attorney
    General-certified or under court order during this 4-year period. In 2000,
    DOJ attorneys and professional staff monitored elections in 5 counties in
    5 states. By 2002, the number of election jurisdictions monitored by DOJ
    attorneys and professional staff increased to 19 counties in 10 states,
    with monitoring of elections in counties in Florida accounting for the
    bulk of the increase.

    According to the Voting Section, election monitoring is a high-priority
    program of DOJ and a very important part of the Section's efforts to
    address voting irregularities.

    See attachment III for more information on election monitoring in Attorney
    Generalcertified and court-ordered election jurisdictions and election
    jurisdictions that DOJ monitored independently.

    Enclosure I

    Officials in the Voting Section and PIN said that Assistant U.S. Attorneys
    can attend annual public corruption conferences, where they receive (1)
    training on handling election crime investigations and prosecutions and
    (2) periodic updates to DOJ's manual on prosecuting election crimes.
    Starting in October 2002, additional annual training, referred to as the
    Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Conference, was provided to Assistant
    U.S. Attorneys who, in coordination with DOJ headquarters, handle
    election-related matters for the 93 U.S. Attorneys.

    The Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Conference training, according to
    Civil Rights Division officials, included civil rights issues that had not
    been covered in the training offered to Assistant U.S. Attorneys prior to
    October 2002 and was designed to provide them a better understanding of
    what the Voting Section does to enforce federal voting rights statutes.
    Also, according to the Civil Rights Division, the presentations that the
    Voting Section made at this annual training conference placed special
    emphasis on the election-monitoring program and solicited the Assistant
    U.S. Attorneys' involvement in helping to enforce federal voting rights
    laws, ballot access, and the election-monitoring program. According to
    PIN, this training, which was mandatory for the Assistant U.S. Attorneys
    designated as district election officers, also covers voting integrity
    issues important to election crime matters.

    Enclosure I

    The Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Conference training was provided to
    Assistant U.S. Attorneys in October 2002, September 2003, and July 2004.

    The training materials for 2002 included topics related to federal voter
    registration and election-day statutes that the Voting Section enforces,
    which include the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, and
    the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, and topics
    related to handling election crime investigations, trials, and the
    statutes and theories used to address election crimes.

    The 2003 training materials included, in addition to the same topics
    covered in 2002, information on HAVA and election monitoring by federal
    observers. According to PIN and the Voting Section, the content of the
    2004 training was similar to that provided in previous years.

    Enclosure I

    Changes to Help Ensure Voter Access Contacts with State and Local Election
    Officials

    In October 2002, the Attorney General directed each U.S. Attorney to
    coordinate with state and local election and law enforcement officials
    prior to the November 2002 elections to, in part, explore ways that they
    could work more closely together to deter and detect discrimination and to
    deter and prosecute election crimes.

    According to PIN officials, the Attorney General's October 2002 directive
    (1) formalized an ad-hoc practice that had existed in DOJ for many years
    of coordinating elections and election-related matters with state
    officials and (2) led to a systematic effort to coordinate election issues
    and matters with these officials.

    Enclosure I

    Changes to Help Ensure Voter Access Contacts with State and Local Election
    Officials

    Prior to the November 2002 federal elections, almost all of the U.S.
    Attorney Offices reported to PIN that they had contacted various state or
    local officials either by telephone, in writing, or in person.

    The state and local officials contacted varied by each U.S. Attorney
    Office. For example, according to PIN,

    o 	the three U.S. Attorneys in the state of Florida reported having met
    with the Florida Secretary of State and

    o 	the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California reported
    having met with the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, Election
    Administrator, and Deputy District Attorney, and the Imperial County
    Registrar of Voters and District Attorney.

    Enclosure I

    The Attorney General directed the Civil Rights Division was to work with
    civil rights leaders, state and local election officials, and U.S.
    Attorney Offices prior to election day in an effort to help ensure that
    citizens' voting rights are protected. The Attorney General also directed
    the Criminal Division to work with these same groups in helping to
    preserve ballot integrity and prevent election offenses.

    According to the Voting Section, the Assistant Attorney General for the
    Civil Rights Division has met with representatives of civil rights
    organizations to discuss the Voting Section's election-monitoring program
    and its plans for monitoring the November 2004 election and has made other
    presentations concerning voting rights issues at many of these
    organizations' meetings and conferences. The Voting Section also said that
    as this election approaches, it plans to ask civil rights organizations
    what election jurisdictions they believe the Voting Section should
    consider monitoring.

    The Voting Section also said that since October 2002, staff from the Civil
    Rights Division have made presentations to, met with, or received
    presentations from various civil rights and other organizations, such as
    the NAACP, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of United
    Latin American Citizens, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, AARP,
    National Association of Secretaries of State, and National Association of
    State Election Directors.

    Enclosure I

    In 2002, the Civil Rights Division made enforcement of voting rights laws
    that address access to voting for language minority groups one of the
    Voting Section's highest priorities. DOJ reported in a civil rights
    accomplishments fact sheet that the Civil Rights Division conducted an
    outreach campaign with state and local election officials and local
    language minority groups to help ensure access to bilingual voting
    materials for language minority groups. This was begun in July 2002
    following the certification of covered jurisdictions based on the results
    of the 2000 census.

    o 	The fact sheet states that the outreach included a July 2002 letter
    from the then-Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division to
    each of the 296 political jurisdictions covered by Section 203 of the
    Voting Rights Act notifying them of their bilingual access obligations in
    the upcoming and future elections. According to the Civil Rights Division,
    attorneys from the Division visited many of the 296 counties covered by
    Section 203.

    o 	In addition, the fact sheet reported that Civil Rights Division
    attorneys conducted in-person meetings with state and local election
    officials and local language minority groups in almost all of the more
    than 80 newly covered jurisdictions.

    Enclosure I

    We analyzed data as of March 15, 2004, on matters and cases related to
    Section 203 language minority issues recorded in DOJ's Interactive Case
    Management (ICM) system, which is used to track and manage these data. We
    found that the Voting Section initiated 7 matters and no cases in 2000, 13
    matters and 2 cases in 2001, 94 matters and 1 case in 2002, and 28 matters
    and no cases in 2003. According to the Civil Rights Division, the Division
    also initiated the following cases: (1) two language assistance cases in
    2002 under Section 2 and Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act; (2) two
    cases in 2003 under Section 2, Section 203, and Section 208 of the Voting
    Rights Act; and (3) five cases in 2004 under Section 203 of the Voting
    Rights Act. Sections 2, 203, and 208 of the Voting Rights Act are
    described in attachment I.

    Enclosure I

    Given the large number of troops deployed overseas and an increase in
    concerns about late mailing of absentee ballots, Voting Section officials
    said that the Voting Section placed increased priority in 2004 on
    enforcing and preparing to ensure compliance with the Uniformed and
    Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which only applies to
    federal elections. These officials cited the following enforcement and
    preparation activities during 2004.

    o 	Obtained a court order in April for emergency relief to remedy an
    UOCAVA violation committed during the Pennsylvania primary election.

    o 	Negotiated with the state of Alabama in May to obtain a similar
    emergency relief order from a state court for a county's failure to
    provide enough time for the mailing to and return of ballots from overseas
    voters for its primary election.

    o 	Obtained a court order in an UOCAVA lawsuit in July against the state
    of Georgia for similar emergency relief for its primary election.

    o 	Established a working group of Voting Section attorneys to facilitate
    communications with the Department of Defense's Federal Voting Assistance
    Program, which is charged with administering UOCAVA, and to plan for the
    possibility of more UOCAVA litigation during 2004.

    Our analysis of matters and cases in DOJ's ICM system as of March 15,
    2004, showed that the Voting Section initiated 3 matters and 2 cases
    during calendar years 2000 through 2003 involving the issue of absentee
    voting by uniformed and overseas citizens. All 5 of the matters and cases
    were initiated in 2002.

    Enclosure I

    In October 2002, HAVA established the Election Assistance Commission to,
    in part, serve as a national clearinghouse and resource to compile
    information and review procedures related to federal election
    administration and provide guidance on implementing certain HAVA
    requirements. Because the Election Assistance Commission was not
    established until December 2003, the Voting Section provided informal,
    nonbinding guidance to states on implementing the requirements of HAVA.

    The Voting Section's guidance to states on HAVA's requirements included

    o 	interpreting requirements of the law and advising states on how to
    comply with them based on DOJ's enforcement role under HAVA;

    o  responding to inquiries from state and local officials;

    o  making presentations at various meetings and conferences;

    o 	writing letters to the chief state election official, governor, and
    attorney general in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and
    the U.S. territories offering toassist the jurisdictions in their efforts
    to ensure compliance with HAVA and summarizing HAVA provisions;

    o  creating a HAVA information page on its Web site; and

    o 	issuing a press release that outlined provisions of HAVA that took
    effect on January 1, 2004, such as provisional voting and identification
    requirements for new voters who register by mail.

    According to the Civil Rights Division, the Voting Section also filed its
    first enforcement action in California in 2004 against a county for
    violating the voter information provisions of HAVA.

    Enclosure I

    According to Voting Section officials, DOJ's plans for helping to ensure
    voter access for the November 2004 election include

    o 	increasing its on-site monitoring of elections considerably over prior
    years through greater use of staff from other sections in the Civil Rights
    Division. Voting Section officials also said that final decisions as to
    where monitoring will be conducted are not made public until shortly
    before an election, but they told us that the Voting Section has prepared
    a list of jurisdictions for consideration based on consent decrees and
    will update the list with other jurisdictions being considered for
    coverage as the election approaches. According to these officials, the
    Voting Section has not established a specific goal for achieving an
    increase in staff or elections to be covered, and

    o 	coordinating with civil rights organizations that will be monitoring
    the election and establishing procedures for bringing their concerns about
    specific issues or jurisdictions to DOJ on or before election day in
    November 2004.

    Enclosure I

                   Actions to Track, Address, and Assess Allegations

    Enclosure I

    Actions to Track, Address, and Assess Allegations

    In our review, we found that the Civil Rights Division had formal
    procedures to track matters and cases to address voting irregularities.
    Specifically, the Voting Section tracks investigative matters and cases
    through the Division's ICM system using unique identification numbers. In
    addition, the Voting Section tracked telephone calls alleging voting
    irregularities for the November 2000 and November 2002 elections using
    telephone logs.

    Voting Section attorneys addressed and assessed allegations of
    election-related voting irregularities initiated from November 2000 to
    December 2003 in various ways, depending on the allegation. Our review of
    files related to 1 preliminary close investigation, 25 closed matters, and
    8 open and closed cases generally found that attorneys contacted cognizant
    officials and assessed the legal merits of evidence of alleged violations
    of civil rights laws.

    In our review of files, we found that Voting Section attorneys generally
    addressed allegations of voting irregularities initiated from November
    2000 to December 2003 through a preliminary investigation or investigative
    matters and took actions such as interviewing election officials at state
    and local levels, interviewing voters affected by alleged voting
    irregularities, and meeting with civil rights groups.

    Our review of Voting Section files also found that Voting Section
    attorneys, in conjunction with supervisory attorneys, assessed information
    collected and determined whether (1) federal voting rights laws were
    violated; (2) an investigation should be closed; or (3) further action was
    needed by the Voting Section, such as filing a complaint with a federal
    court or continued monitoring.

    Enclosure I

    The ICM is a database system that the Voting Section uses to track and
    manage matter and case data for the Section and can be used to generate
    reports.

    Each matter and case is assigned a DJ number, which is an unique
    identification number. Information on matters and cases can be searched by
    the identification numbers, statutes, and other information maintained in
    the system.

    The system is set up to automatically enter certain data and has required
    fields for which data must be entered. Voting Section staff can enter
    other data into the system, as appropriate.

    Enclosure I

    Officials told us that the Voting Section

    o  receives numerous citizen calls, comments, and questions daily;

    o 	receives telephone calls, e-mails, faxes, letters, and packages. Most
    of the calls and written allegations from citizens do not concern issues
    within the jurisdiction of the Civil Rights Division and, in such
    instances, the caller is often notified of this determination over the
    telephone and referred to other state or federal agencies with possible
    jurisdiction;

    o 	documented telephone calls received at the Section's toll free
    telephone number using telephone logs for the 2000 and 2002 elections;

    o 	found that only a small percentage of allegations that it received
    following the November 2000 election fell within its jurisdiction or
    presented substantive issues that merited further review. Notations on
    logs documenting telephone calls related to the November 2000 election
    indicated that some of the calls- we were unable to quantifythe number of
    calls because of the way calls were recorded- were related to
    dissatisfaction with the outcome of the election or other issues such as
    general complaints about the election process that contained no specific
    allegations of violations of federal laws;

    o 	in addition to following up with people who called the Voting Section
    after the November 2000 election, Voting Section staff pursued other
    avenues of complaints, such as complaint logs generated by the NAACP Voter
    Fund, hearings conducted bythe U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the
    NAACP, and incidents receiving a large amount of publicity, to determine
    if federal laws had been violated; and

    o 	expects attorneys to find new matters for investigation in addition to
    assignments made by Section management.

    Enclosure I

    Voting Section officials told us that on election day

    o 	in addition to calls received by the Section at its toll-free number,
    an OPM federal examiner maintains a toll-free telephone number to receive
    calls. An examiner is a federal employee assigned by OPM to receive
    complaints of racial or minority language discriminatory voting practices.
    (See attach. I for the statute related to federal examiners.) Any
    allegations taken by the examiner that are deemed to require immediate
    attention are routed to the Civil Rights Division when received, while
    other allegations are transmitted after the election and reviewed to
    determine if further action is needed. According to the Chief of the
    Voting Section, they received few, if any, allegations from examiners in
    relation to the November 2000 election, and

    o 	a small number of Civil Rights Division staff remain available at the
    Voting Section on major election days to take citizen calls, with the vast
    majority of Section staff at various locations around the country for
    monitoring purposes. Major problems that arise from these calls are routed
    to attorney supervisors to determine what actions are needed.

    Our review of files included five matters that were initiated to monitor
    elections. According to Voting Section officials, this activity is not
    routinely tracked through the ICM, but they plan to designate a single
    identification number to track this activity.

    Enclosure I

    The following presents information on the Voting Section's process for
    addressing allegations related to voting irregularities.

    o 	If the Voting Section deems that a voting allegation falls within its
    jurisdiction and appears to have merit, an attorney is assigned to make
    inquiries about the allegation. The attorney performs some investigative
    work to determine whether the allegation should be pursued.

    o 	If an attorney believes a matter should be investigated, the
    attorneydiscusses this with the Deputy Chief responsible for the state in
    which the matter rises. The Section Chief and Deputies decide whether or
    not to formally open a matter. The Voting Section assigns a number to the
    matter for tracking purposes.

    o 	When Voting Section staff monitor elections and receive allegations of
    or information about voting irregularities while on site, they make
    efforts to resolve allegations by contacting local election officials
    immediately. Further investigation of such irregularities is conducted
    after an election if the allegation was not resolved on election day or if
    it is deemed otherwise necessary to prevent such problems from arising in
    the future.

    Enclosure I

    Our file review found that the Voting Section generally took the following
    actions during its investigations initiated from November 2000 to December
    2003:

    o 	Interviewed state and county election officials, other state and county
    officials who may provide insight into the investigation, state Attorneys
    General, voters raising the allegations, and representatives from the
    NAACP and other minority groups.

    o  Requested documentation detailing certain election procedures.

    o 	Facilitated the resolution of allegations and issues that arose
    duringelections, when monitoring elections. If Voting Section staff
    monitoring elections received allegations about voting irregularities,
    they immediately took steps to resolve the allegations by contactinglocal
    election officials.

    o 	Where deemed appropriate, filed enforcement actions in federal court
    against jurisdictions that allegedly violated federal voting rightslaws by
    either obtaining judgments against them or entering into consent decrees
    with jurisdictions that agree to remedy their alleged violations of
    federal voting statutes.

    Enclosure I

    Following the investigation of a preliminary investigation or matter, a
    Voting Section attorney, in conjunction with a supervisor, determines
    whether the allegation has merit, whether the preliminary investigation or
    matter should be pursued further, or whether the preliminary investigation
    or matter should be closed. The determination to close a matter or pursue
    it as a case is a legal judgment and is often based on whether there is
    deemed to be a sufficient evidence of violations of voting rights laws and
    whether the state or local election officials have taken action to correct
    problems.

    The Voting Section identified a total of 34 closed investigations and open
    and closed cases initiated between November 2000 and December 2003 that it
    considered to involve election-related voting irregularities: 1 closed
    preliminary investigation, 25 closed matters, and 8 open and closed cases.

    The preliminary investigation was closed because the Voting Section
    concluded that the allegation lacked merit.

    Enclosure I

    For the 25 closed matters:

    o  13 were closed because the Voting Section concluded that the
    allegations lacked merit;

    o 	5 were closed because the state or voting jurisdictions took actions to
    resolve the issues (e.g., one state passed an election law, and the Voting
    Section approved changes to election procedures that one city had
    proposed);

    o 	4 were closed following the completion of elections, and the Voting
    Section provided feedback or observations related to election procedures
    while monitoring elections;

    o  2 were closed because voting jurisdictions implemented changes for
    future elections; and

    o  1 was closed because a state court issued an order addressing the
    issue.

    For the 8 cases:

    o 	6 are open pending fulfillment of consent decrees entered into on
    behalf of DOJ and the jurisdiction in alleged violation of statute, and

    o 	2 are closed because consent decrees entered into on behalf of DOJ and
    the jurisdictions in alleged violation of statutes required states to take
    corrective actions and states did so by passing legislation, among other
    actions.

    Attachment IV provides detailed information on the results of our file
    review of the 34 closed preliminary investigation and matters and open and
    closed cases initiated from November 2000 to December 2003 that the Voting
    Section considered as involving election-related voting irregularities.

    Enclosure I

                            Assessment of Internal Controls

    Enclosure I

                            Assessment of Internal Controls

    In our review, we found that

    o 	the Voting Section tracked telephone calls related to the November 2000
    election by using telephone logs. Some logs had several broad categories
    to capture the subject of the calls, rows for states from which the calls
    originated and, for the most part, tabulated the numbers of calls using
    tick marks. Other logs that the Voting Section used contained information
    such as callers' names, telephone numbers, and descriptions of the calls.
    The Voting Section improved upon the telephone log for the November 2002
    election by including columns to record the action taken on each call in
    addition to recording the caller's name and telephone number, but has one
    column to capture the subject of the call, and

    o 	as mentioned previously, the Voting Section tracked some monitoring of
    elections by opening matters and assigning each matter an identification

    number. According to Voting Section officials, it has not routinely
    tracked election-monitoring activities through the case management

    system but is considering assigning one identification number to track
    election-monitoring activities.

    Enclosure I

    Assessment of Internal Controls November 2000 Election Telephone Logs

    The Voting Section received an unprecedented volume of telephone calls in
    November and December 2000 related to the unusual events surrounding the
    November 2000 presidential election.

    o 	The Voting Section reported to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
    that it received approximately 11,000 calls related to the November 2000
    election. In comparison, the Voting Section told us it received several
    hundred calls related to the November 2002 election. The Voting Section
    told us it does not have records of telephone calls related to other
    elections except to the extent that such telephone calls generated
    investigations that became matters or cases.

    o 	According to the Voting Section, contractors were hired in November
    2000 to help handle the unprecedented number of incoming telephone calls
    received concerning the November 2000 election to help ensure that the
    public would be able to voice opinions and concerns. Hiring contractors
    was not intended as a mechanism to gather specific allegations.

    o 	Voting Section staff and contractors kept telephone logs that consisted
    of tables with columns identifying broad categories of allegations or
    comments and rows with the state from which a call originated. Voting
    Section staff also kept two other types of logs, which included the
    caller's name, state, telephone number, and description of the call. Calls
    were recorded on most logs as tick marks, while some logs included limited
    narrative on the nature of the call.

    Enclosure I

    Assessment of Internal Controls November 2000 Election Telephone Logs

    Our analysis of the telephone call logs completed by contractors found the
    following:

    o 	It was difficult to count how many calls were received because, for
    example, one caller could have made multiple complaints and some logs
    appeared to be duplicates.

    o 	The call logs did not include a way to record calls from 4
    states-Arkansas, Kansas, Montana, and North Dakota. According to Voting
    Section officials, these 4 states were left off the contractor logs
    inadvertently, although these officials noted that they were unaware of
    any calls received from these states. Our analysis found that Voting
    Section staff recorded having received calls from some of these states.

    o 	Columns that were used to record callers were labeled voter fraud,
    irregularities, request investigation, re-vote, and general comments. In
    some of the logs, the columns were re-labeled manually to tally additional
    types of comments. The broad nature of these column labels to record
    information about the nature of the calls and the limited narrative
    sometimes included on logs did not always provide sufficient information
    to determine whether the Voting Section should initiate an investigation.

    o 	The telephone logs did not include information on callers' contact
    information such as telephone numbers.

    Enclosure I

    Assessment of Internal Controls November 2000 Election Telephone Logs

    Some of the telephone logs that Voting Section and contractor staff
    completed included comments indicating allegations that people may have
    been prevented from voting. According to the Voting Section, Voting
    Section personnel reviewed logs on an ongoing basis and efforts were made
    to contact callers who provided telephone numbers and whose messages
    indicated possible violations of federal civil rights statutes. The Voting
    Section does not have records indicating how many such return calls were
    made and noted that return telephone contact information was not always
    provided or asked for.

    According to Voting Section officials, an assessment of the calls led them
    to determine that most of the calls focused on concerns about the election
    situation in Florida, often from citizens in states other than Florida,
    and that few allegations included substantive information about possible
    violations of federal law. However, the information on the November 2000
    telephone logs is not precise enough to document this assessment.

    Enclosure I

    Assessment of Internal Controls November 2002 Election Telephone Logs

    For the November 2002 federal election, the Voting Section assigned staff
    to receive calls; provided instructions for how to handle calls from
    citizens, the press, members of Congress, and others; and provided state
    contact information to refer callers to state officials, when appropriate.

    According to Voting Section officials, a telephone log was used to record
    calls received. The telephone log included columns to record time of call;
    caller information for name, city, state, and telephone number; subject;
    and action. No instructions were provided with the telephone log about how
    to complete it regarding the type of information to be included in the
    subject or action columns.

    Enclosure I

                            Assessment of Internal Controls

    According to the Civil Rights Division, the Voting Section plans to ensure
    that it has full capability to receive and respond, as appropriate, to all
    calls related to the November 2004 general election in the most
    expeditious way possible. Division officials further stated that the
    Voting Section has procedures in place to track and respond to telephone
    calls that it might receive in relation to the November 2004 general
    election.

    o 	Specifically, the Civil Rights Division told us that the Voting Section
    plans to use a telephone log such as the one used for the November 2002
    election to record information on the caller's name, time of call, city
    and state, telephone number, subject of the call, and action taken on the
    call. The Division noted that the November 2002 log or any log that the
    Voting Section might use for the November 2004 election is a tool to
    ensure that the Voting Section does not miss calls raising important
    concerns over which it has jurisdiction and is not intended to
    definitively track all election-related allegations received.

    Enclosure I

                            Assessment of Internal Controls

    The Civil Rights Division also cited other procedures that the Voting
    Section plans to use to track and respond to possible telephone calls
    related to the November 2004 general election. These procedures will
    include the Voting Section

    o 	continuing its practice of assigning its staff to specific states for
    the purpose of reviewing citizen calls and letters;

    o 	keeping a sufficient number of staff and supervisory attorneys in
    headquarters on election day to handle calls and to respond to allegations
    referred from Voting Section staff monitoring elections in the field on
    that day; and

    o 	using contractors, if needed, to take telephone calls. The Division
    plans to determine the need to use contractors on a case-by-case basis.

    Enclosure I

                            Conclusions and Recommendations

                                      Enclosure I

                                   Internal Controls

    o 	The Voting Section received an unprecedented number of calls related to
    the November 2000 election and took steps to document telephone calls.
    According to the Voting Section, it also documented calls for the November
    2002 election for which far fewer calls were received. The 2000 and 2002
    election telephone logs differed somewhat in format, and improvements were
    made regarding how information was collected on the 2002 election
    telephone log. The Voting Section did not provide written instructions to
    contractors in November 2000 about how to complete the logs, but did
    provide written instructions to DOJ staff on completing some of the
    information for the 2002 logs. However, both logs lack precision for
    documenting the nature of the call and actions taken because broad
    categories were used to capture information on the call.

                                      Enclosure I

                                   Internal Controls

    o 	Predictions of another close presidential election in November 2004,
    possible voter confusion over new requirements in the Help America Vote
    Act, and possible questions regarding voting equipment could result in the
    Voting Section again receiving a large number of telephone calls and
    possibly result in the use of contractors to handle calls since most of
    the Voting Section staff are monitoring election sites on election day. If
    the Voting Section collects more precise information about such calls, it
    is in a better position to assure the public that it addressed allegations
    of voting irregularities; if it documents actions taken more precisely, it
    is better able to reassure the public and Congress of its commitment to
    enforce federal voting rights statutes.

    o 	The Voting Section has emphasized the importance of its monitoring of
    election day activities, yet the monitoring program has not been routinely
    tracked in the ICM system, its formal process for tracking and managing
    work activities. Voting Section officials told us they were considering
    tracking this program in the future, and we believe the significance of
    this program warrants a more formal tracking of monitoring efforts and
    resources dedicated to the program.

    Enclosure I

    Confidence in election processes is of utmost importance. To help ensure
    confidence in the integrity of our voting processes, the Voting Section
    plays an important role in addressing voting irregularities. By accurately
    recording and documenting its activities in as clear a manner as possible,
    the Voting Section contributes to assuring the public and Congress of the
    integrity of our voting processes.

    To reassure citizens of the integrity of our election processes and to
    reassure the public and Congress of DOJ's commitment to its responsibility
    to enforce federal voting rights statutes, we recommend that the Assistant
    Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division direct the Chief of the
    Voting Section to

    o 	develop and implement procedures for the November 2004 election to
    ensure that the Voting Section has a reliable method of tracking and
    documenting allegations of voting irregularities and actions taken to
    address them. Procedures could include more precise categories for
    recording types of allegations, more precise categories to record actions
    taken, development of instructions on completing the telephone logs, and
    development and implementation of training for contractors, should they be
    needed, and

    o 	implement a method to track and report on election monitoring program
    activities in the Interactive Case Management system.

    Attachment I

    Voting Laws Enforced by the Voting Section Relevant to Contents of
    Briefing and Its Attachments

    According to the Voting Section, to carry out its mission, the Voting
    Section brings lawsuits against states, counties, cities, and other
    jurisdictions to remedy denials and abridgements of the right to vote;
    defends lawsuits that the Voting Rights Act authorizes to be brought
    against the Attorney General; reviews changes in voting laws and
    procedures administratively under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act; and
    monitors election day activities through the assignment of federal
    observers under Section 8 of the Voting Rights Act. Provided below are
    short descriptions of some of the primary voting laws enforced by the
    Voting Section.

    Voting Rights Act Provisions

    o  Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. S: 1973)

    Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act establishes a nationwide ban against
    any state or local election practices or procedures that deny or abridge a
    citizen's right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a
    language minority group.4 The Voting Rights Act provides that plaintiffs
    may establish a violation of Section 2 by demonstrating that "the
    political processes leading to nomination or election" deny members of the
    protected classes an equal opportunity to participate in the political
    process and to elect representatives of their choice. A court, under the
    Voting Rights Act, may also consider the extent to which members of the
    protected class have been elected to office in the jurisdiction, though
    Congress made clear that Section 2 does not confer upon protected classes
    a right to proportional representation.

    o  	Sections 203 and 4(f)(4) of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. S:S:
    1973aa-1a, 1973b(f)(4))

    Sections 203 and 4(f)(4) are the language minority provisions of the
    Voting Rights Act and require certain covered jurisdictions to provide
    bilingual election materials and assistance based on census data
    pertaining to the population of citizens of voting age with limited
    English proficiency and their rate of illiteracy. With respect to Section
    203, the Voting Rights Act requires jurisdictions to provide language
    minority assistance when certain criteria are met, such as when more than
    5 percent of the citizens of voting age or more than 10,000 of the
    citizens of voting age are members of a single language minority group,
    and are unable to speak or understand English adequately enough to
    participate in the electoral process.

                          4 42 U.S.C. S:S: 1973, 1973b(f)(2).

    Attachment I

    o  Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. S: 1973aa-6)

    Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act authorizes voting assistance for
    blind, disabled, or illiterate persons. A voter who requires assistance to
    vote by reason of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write may
    be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice, other than the
    voter's employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of the
    voter's union.

    o  Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. S: 1973c)

    Under Section 5 of the Act, "covered" 5 jurisdictions may not change their
    election practices or procedures until they obtain federal "preclearance"
    for the change. The act provides for either judicial or administrative
    preclearance. Under the judicial mechanism, covered jurisdictions may seek
    declaratory judgment from the United States District Court for the
    District of Columbia that the change has neither the purpose nor the
    effect of discriminating against protected minorities in exercising their
    voting rights. Under the administrative mechanism, covered jurisdictions
    may seek the same determination from the Attorney General. The Attorney
    General may deny preclearance by interposing and objection to the proposed
    change within 60 days of its submission.

    o  Section 6 of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. S: 1973d)

    Section 6 of the Voting Rights Act provides for the appointment of federal
    examiners by order of a federal court or, with respect to certain covered
    jurisdictions, upon certification by the Attorney General. Federal
    examiners help to register voters by determining whether a citizen meets
    state eligibility requirements and must therefore be included in the
    registration rolls. A federal court, under the Voting Rights Act, may
    order the appointment of federal examiners to any jurisdiction sued under
    any statute to enforce certain constitutional voting guarantees.6 In
    covered jurisdictions, the Attorney General may appoint examiners upon
    certification that the Attorney General has received at least 20
    meritorious written complaints of voting discrimination or that the
    Attorney General otherwise believes that the appointment of examiners is
    necessary to protect voting rights.

    5 The jurisdictions targeted for "coverage" are those evidencing
    discriminatory voting practices, based
    upon a triggering formula, as defined in Section 4 of the Voting Rights
    Act (42 U.S.C. 1973b). The
    Attorney General and the Director of the Census have responsibility for
    determining which
    jurisdictions are covered by the triggering formula, and their
    determinations are not reviewable in any
    court and are effective upon publication in the Federal Register.
    6 See also, section 3 of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. S: 1973a).

    Attachment I

    o  Section 8 of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. S: 1973f)

    Under Section 8 of the Voting Rights Act, federal observers may be
    appointed, upon request of the Attorney General, in any jurisdiction where
    an examiner is serving. Federal observers are to monitor elections and
    report whether persons entitled to vote were allowed to vote and whether
    their votes were properly counted.

    o  Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. S: 1973i(b)

    Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act prohibits persons, whether acting
    under color of law or not, from intimidating, threatening, or coercing, or
    attempting to intimidate, threaten or coerce, any person for voting or
    attempting to vote. Section 11(b) further prohibits intimidation, threats,
    or coercion of those persons aiding other persons in voting or exercising
    certain powers or duties under the Act.

    Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C.
    S:S: 1973ff to 1973ff-6)

    The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA),
    in general, requires states and territories to allow absent uniformed
    service voters, their spouses and dependents, and certain other overseas
    voters to register and vote absentee in elections for federal office.
    UOCAVA requires, for example, that a presidential designee prescribe a
    federal write-in absentee ballot for all overseas voters in federal
    elections. The ballot is to be used if the overseas voter applies for, but
    does not receive, a state absentee ballot.7 While state law, in general,
    governs the processing of these federal write-in ballots, UOCAVA requires
    that states permit their

    8

    use in federal elections.

    National Voter Registration Act (42 U.S.C. S:S: 1973gg to 1973gg-10)

    The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) established procedures
    designed to "increase the number of eligible citizens who register to vote
    in elections Federal office," while protecting "the integrity of the
    electoral process" and ensuring the maintenance of "accurate and current
    voter registration rolls."9 NVRA requires all states to adopt certain
    federal voter registration procedures, except for those states that have
    no registration requirements or that permit election-day registration with
    respect to federal elections.10 NVRA, for example, requires states to
    allow applicants for driver's licenses to register to vote on the same
    form.11 NVRA also requires states

    7 42 U.S.C. S: 1973ff-2(a). 8 Id. S: 1973ff-1(3). 9 42 U.S.C. S: 1973gg.
    10 42 U.S.C. S: 1973gg-2. 11 Id. S: 1973gg-3(a).

    Attachment I

    to provide voter registration forms and accept completed applications at
    various state agencies, including any office in the state providing public
    assistance, any office in the state that provides state-funded disability
    programs, and other agencies chosen by the state, such as state licensing
    bureaus, county clerks' offices, public schools and public libraries.12
    NVRA also contains detailed requirements regarding state

                                           13

    removal of names from federal registration rolls.

    Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984 (42
    U.S.C. S:S: 1973ee to 1973ee-6)

    Congress has passed legislation intended to improve access for elderly and
    handicapped individuals to registration facilities and polling places for
    federal elections. The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and
    Handicapped Act of 1984 requires, with some exceptions, that political
    subdivisions within each state that are responsible for conducting
    elections assure that polling places and registration sits are accessible
    to handicapped and elderly voters.14 If the political subdivision is
    unable to provide an accessible polling place, it must provide an
    alternative means for casting a ballot on election day upon advance
    request by the voter.15 The act's requirements also include, for example,
    that each state or political subdivision provide a reasonable number of
    accessible permanent registration facilities, and that each state make
    available certain types of voting and registration aids such as largetype
    instructions and information by telecommunication devices for the deaf.16

    Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. S:S: 12131 to
    12134) (enforced by the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights
    Division)

    Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination
    against qualified individuals with disabilities in all programs,
    activities, and services of public entities. It applies to all state and
    local governments, their departments and agencies, and any other
    instrumentalities or special purpose districts of State and local
    governments. According to the Voting Section, as construed by the courts,
    Title II requires that polling places be accessible to persons with
    disabilities with certain exceptions.

    Help America Vote Act (42 U.S.C. S:S: 15301 to 15545)

    The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), among other things, established
    a program to provide funds to states to replace punch care voting systems,
    established the Election Assistance Commission to assist in the
    administration of federal elections and to otherwise provide assistance
    with the administration of certain

    12 Id. S:S: 1973gg-5(a)(2), (a)(3), (a)(4), (a)(6)(A)(i).
    13 Id. S: 1973gg-6(b).
    14 42 U.S.C. S:S: 1973ee to 1973ee-6.
    15 Id. S: 1973ee-1(b)(2)(ii).
    16 Id. S: 1973ee-2, 1973ee-3.

    Attachment I

    federal election laws and programs, and established minimum election
    administration standards for States and units of local government with
    responsibility for the administration of federal elections. Certain HAVA
    provisions including those relating to voting system standards,
    provisional voting and voting information requirements, and computerized
    statewide voter registration lists are to be enforced by the Attorney
    General.17

                                 17 42 U.S.C. S: 15511.

    Attachment II

    Role of the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section in Federal
    Elections

    The Public Integrity Section (PIN), in conjunction with the 93 U. S.
    Attorneys and the FBI, is responsible for enforcing federal criminal laws
    applicable to federal election fraud offenses, among other things.
    Election fraud is conduct that corrupts the electoral processes for: (1)
    obtaining, marking, or tabulating ballots; (2) canvassing and certifying
    election results; or (3) registering voters. Election fraud can be
    committed with or without the participation of voters. Examples of
    election fraud that does not involve voter participation are ballot box
    stuffing, ghost voting, and "nursing home" frauds. Examples of election
    fraud that involves, at least to some extent, voter participation are vote
    buying schemes, absentee ballot fraud, voter intimidation schemes,
    migratory-voting or floating-voter schemes, and voter "assistance" fraud
    in which the voters' wishes are ignored or not sought. According to a PIN
    official, its attorneys spend about 10 percent of their time on election
    fraud investigations and trials.

    PIN is also responsible for overseeing the U.S. Attorneys' and the FBI's
    investigation and prosecution of federal election fraud, one of the most
    common types of alleged federal election crimes. PIN's oversight entails
    (1) advising investigators and prosecutors on the application of federal
    criminal laws to election crimes, (2) reviewing all major election crime
    investigations and all proposed election crime charges, and (3) assisting
    with implementing DOJ's District Election Officer (DEO) program. Under the
    DEO program, PIN asks each of the 93 U.S. Attorneys to appoint an
    Assistant U.S. Attorney to serve a 2-year term as a DEO and provides
    training and guidance to DEOs on carrying out their responsibilities.
    DEOs, whose responsibilities are performed in conjunction with their other
    responsibilities, are to

    o  	screen and conduct preliminary investigations of complaints, in
    conjunction with the FBI and PIN, to determine whether they constitute
    potential election crimes and should become matters for investigation;  o
    oversee the investigation and prosecution of election fraud and other
    election

    crimes in their districts;  o  coordinate their district's (investigative
    and prosecutorial) efforts with DOJ headquarters prosecutors;

    o  	coordinate election matters with state and local election and law
    enforcement officials and make them aware of their availability to assist
    with election-related matters;

    o  	issue press releases to the public announcing the names and telephone
    numbers of DOJ and FBI officials to contact on election day with
    complaints about voting or election irregularities and answer telephones
    on election day to receive these complaints; and

    o  	supervise a team of Assistant U.S. Attorneys and FBI special agents
    who are appointed to handle election-related allegations while the polls
    are open on election day.

    Attachment II

    Our analysis of information from PIN on election fraud matters showed that
    U.S. Attorneys and PIN attorneys initiated a total of 61 election fraud
    matters, or investigations, related to election years 2000 through 2003.
    Most of the 61 matters related to elections held in 2002. Matters were
    initiated in 28 states and 1 U.S. territory (the U.S. Virgin Islands) and
    ranged from 1 to 7 matters per state/territory over the 4-year period. The
    most frequent allegations of election fraud were for absentee ballot fraud
    and vote buying. According to PIN, many of these matters resulted in
    indictments and subsequent convictions.

    According to the Criminal Division, the information provided by PIN does
    not include all election fraud investigations that the U.S. Attorneys have
    initiated because (1) U. S. Attorneys are not required to consult with PIN
    for preliminary investigations as opposed to grand jury investigations,
    which require consultation; (2) PIN did not track election fraud
    investigations prior to October 2002; and (3) election fraud
    investigations are sometimes initiated under non-election statutes.

    Attachment III

    Election Jurisdictions Monitored during Calendar Years 2000 through 2003

    Table 1: Attorney General-Certified Election Jurisdictions Monitored
    during Calendar Years 2000 through 2003

                                Election jurisdictions monitored during
            State         2000           2001             2002          2003
                       Hale County                    Hale County
                       Selma
                       (Dallas                          Chambers
                       County)a                          County
                         Lowndes
                         County
                         Apache
           Arizona       County                      Apache County
                         Navajo
                         County                      Navajo County
                        Randolph                        Randolph
                        County a                         County
                         Brooks
           Georgia       County
                         Sumter
                         County
                         Twiggs
                         County
          Louisiana      Tensas
                         Parish
                        Aberdeen      Clarksdale                     Greenville
                         (Monroe   (Coahoma County)   Adams County   (Washington
                        County)a           b                           County)
                         Bolivar   Isola (Humphreys   Amite County    Humphreys
                         County         County)                        County
                         Grenada                     Centreville       Noxubee
                         County     Macon (Noxubee   (Wilkinson       County a
                                        County)      County)
                         Neshoba       Sunflower          Drew         Neshoba
                         County       (Sunflower       (Sunflower      County
         Mississippi                    County)         County)
                         Newton
                         County                                     Newton County
                                                                    Kemper County
                                   Vicksburg (Warren                Leake County
                                       County) a
                                         Webb
                                     (Tallahatchie                  Jones County
                                        County)
                                                                    Winston
                                                                    County
                          Kings
                         County      Kings County     Kings County
          New York      New York                        New York
                         County     New York County      County
                                   Bronx County
                         Marion       Ridgeville     Ridgeville
    South Carolina   County a      (Dorchester    (Dorchester
                                        County)      County) a
                       Irving
            Texas      (Dallas      Irving (Dallas    Titus County
                       County)          County)
            Total               19                 11         13          9
        jurisdictions

    Source: GAO's analysis of election monitoring data provided by DOJ's
    Voting Section.

    aElections were monitored by DOJ attorneys and professional staff only,
    not OPM federal observers. bThree elections were held in Clarksdale
    (Coahoma County), Mississippi, in calendar year 2001. Only DOJ attorneys
    and professional staff monitored one of the three elections, held on June
    5, 2001. For the remaining two elections held that year, DOJ attorneys and
    professional staff accompanied OPM observers in monitoring the elections.

    Attachment III

    Table 2: Court-Ordered Election Jurisdictions Monitored during Calendar
    Years 2000 through 2003

                               Election jurisdictions monitored during
           State          2000             2001            2002          2003
          California Alameda County
                     a
            Illinois                   Cicero (Cook                  Cicero (Cook
                                         County)                     County)b
           Louisiana       c                c                c            c
                     City of                           City of         City of
            Michigan Hamtramck      City of Hamtramck  Hamtramck      Hamtramck
                                                          Passaic      Passaic
          New Jersey Passaic County   Passaic County      County       County d
                     Bernalillo                        Bernalillo
                     County                            County
                     Cibola County                     Cibola County
          New Mexico Sandoval                          Sandoval
                     County                            County
                                                          Socorro
                     Socorro County                       County
                                                          Reading      Reading
        Pennsylvania                  Reading (Berks      (Berks        (Berks
                                        County) b        County)b      County)
                Utah San Juan                          San Juan
                     County e                          County e
               Total       8                4                8            4
    jurisdictions

    Source: GAO's analysis of election monitoring data provided by DOJ's
    Voting Section.

    aThe court order for Alameda County, California, was in effect until
    January 22, 2001.
    bElections were monitored by DOJ attorneys and professional staff only,
    not OPM federal observers.
    cA court order for St. Landry Parish was entered into on December 5, 1979.
    Data from the Voting Section shows
    that as of August 26, 2003, the court order was still in effect and that
    no elections were monitored at this parish
    during calendar years 2000 through 2003.
    dFour elections were held in Passaic County, New Jersey, in calendar year
    2003. Only DOJ attorneys and
    professional staff monitored one of the four elections, held on May 13,
    2003. For the remaining three elections
    held that year, DOJ attorneys and professional staff accompanied OPM
    observers in monitoring the elections.
    eThe court order for San Juan County, Utah, was in effect until December
    31, 2002.

    Attachment III

    Table 3: Other Election Jurisdictions Monitored during Calendar Years 2000
    through 2003

                                        Page 70
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Brentwood
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Union                                                                Kenedy
                                                          San                                                                                                                                                              Atlanta                                                                   Baker               Tangipahoa                                                                   St.   St.   St.     New                           New            San     New  Queens Queens   New    Suffolk Suffolk Free                           South                          Bexar  ISD     Harris  Comal            Moore
    Election    State 2000 2001 2002 2003 California   Francisco           Connecticut   Waterbury  Florida                                                                                             Georgia         (Fulton  Hawaii                                   Louisiana       St.     (East               Parish     Massachusetts                     Michigan             Missouri  Louis Louis Louis Jersey                        Mexico            Juan   York  County County  York    County  County  School    Ohio  Maple       Carolina           Texas  Forth   County (Karnes County  County           County                             5 9 19 13
     jurisdictions                                        County       San                  (New                                                                            Century                                        County)                                                       Martinville Baton     Winnsboro                           Lawrence  Lawrence           Flint                                                                                 County          a            City                    District        Heights                               Worth          County)                Seagraves
    monitored                                                    Francisco               Haven               Osceola Osceola    Duval  Duval    Miami-Dade Miami-Dade   (Escambia    Orange    Broward          Putnam                     Honolulu             Jefferson             (St. Martin Rouge     (Franklin                            (Essex    (Essex           (Genesee                                         Hudson    Middlesex         McKinley                              (Queens                  (Suffolk        (Cuyahoga            Marion          (Tarrant                                (Gaines           Guadalupe           Total
        during                                                       County                 County)             County  County     County County     County   County        County)     County    County           County                      County  Kentucky     County                 Parish)   Parish)    Parish)                            County)   County)           County)                                          County     County           Countya                               County)                  County)         County)              County          County)                                 County)           County      jurisdictions

    Source: GAO's analysis of election monitoring data provided by DOJ's
    Voting Section.

    Note: DOJ attorneys and professional staff monitored the election
    jurisdictions shown in this table unless otherwise noted.

    aOPM federal observers also monitored elections in these counties even
    though the counties are not under Attorney General-certification or court
    order.

    Attachment IV Summaries of Election-Related Preliminary Investigation,
    Matters, and Cases Initiated from November 2000 to December 2003

    Election-Related Closed Matters and Open Case Initiated during November or
    December 2000

    No. Matter/Case       Jurisdiction            Date matter initiated DJ No.
        1       Matter                   Florida             December 2000   No a
        2       Matter      Hillsborough County,             November 2000   No a
                                         Florida
        3       Matter Palm Beach County,                    November 2000    Yes
                       Florida
        4       Matter       Several counties in             November 2000    Yes
                                         Florida
        5       Matter    DeKalb County, Georgia             December 2000    Yes
        6       Matter  Gwinnett County, Georgia             November 2000    Yes
        7         Case       St. Louis, Missouri November 2000 (case filed    Yes
                                                 in August 2002)

    Source: DOJ Civil Rights Division.

    a For the matters that the Voting Section initiated in Florida after the
    2000 election, the Voting Section initially used a general DJ number for
    all work on investigations and inquiries related to the Florida election.
    This number was opened in November 2000. Subsequently, the Voting Section
    assigned separate DJ numbers for individual matters. The 2000 matters in
    Florida and Hillsborough County, Florida, were inadvertently not given an
    individual

    DJ number.

    Summary of Election-Related Closed Matters and Open Case Initiated during
    November or December 2000

                                        Page 71
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                   Interviews
                                                                                   by Voting
                                                                                   Section
                                                                                   staff with
                                                                                   individuals
                                                   1. The Voting                   mentioned in
                                                   Section                         the
                                                   received a                      complaints
                                                   large number                    did not
                                                   of complaints                   reveal a     Florida
                                                   alleging that                   distinct     enacted
                                                   Florida voters                  pattern of   election
                                                   arrived at the                  registration reform
                                                   polls                           problems in  legislation in
                                                   expecting to                    any one      2001
                                                   be properly                     Florida      requiring,
                                                   registered to                   county       among other
                                                   vote, but were                  sufficient   things, that
                                                   told that                       to warrant   the state
                                                   their names                     litigation,  implement a
                                                   were not on    Voting Section   but taken as statewide
                                                   the voter      staff contacted  a whole the  voter
                                                   rolls. Some    individuals      registration registration
                                                   people who     mentioned in     complaints   database,
                                                   tried to vote  complaints that  seemed to    permit
                                                   but whose      the NAACP had    indicate     provisional
                                                   names were not forwarded to     general      voting, and
                                                   on the voter   determine the    problems     provide funds
                                                   rolls were     nature of their  with the     to counties
                                                   often told to  alleged          state of     for voter
                                                   stand in       registration     compliance   education and
    Description                                    another line   problems. Voting with NVRA    poll worker
    based on                           Disposition so election    Section staff    provisions   training. The
    Voting                              by Voting  officials      monitored        for clarity  Voting Section
    Section                              Section   could be       election-related and          reviewed this
    information                                    called to      hearings and     processing   law under
                                                   verify their   lawsuits in      of voter     Section 5 of
                                                   registrations, Florida to see   registration the Voting
                                                   but many       what steps the   forms,       Rights Act and
                                                   voters alleged state was going  transmission precleared it
                                                   that office    to take. The     of the forms on March 28,
                                                   phones were    Voting Section   to election  2002. With
                                                   busy all day   reviewed         officials,   respect to
                                                   and            election reform  education of this
                                                   registrations  legislation that registration investigation,
                                                   could not be   Florida enacted  personnel,   the Voting
                                                   verified. Some in 2001.         adherence to Section noted
                                                   voters                          NVRA         that these
                                                   apparently                      registration reforms should
                                                   left and some                   deadlines,   help address
                                                   remained at                     maintenance  the problems
                                                   the polls                       of           alleged to
                                                   until they                      registration have occurred
                                                   closed, at                      lists,       in 2000. While
                                                   which time                      ability to   the Voting
                                                   they were                       verify       Section
                                                   apparently                      registration further noted
                                                   told they                       at the       that the
                                                   could not vote                  polls, and
                                                   because the                     education of
                                                   polls were                      voters,
                                                   closed.                         state
                Voting                                                             registration
                Section's    Voting                                                personnel,
                actions     Section's                                              election
                taken to   assessment                                              officials,
                address        of                                                  and poll
                allegation allegations                                             workers.

         Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV

                                        Page 72
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
          new state
          legislation did not
          appear specifically
          to address all the
          NVRA-related issues,
          such as the voter
          registration process
          and education of
          motor vehicle agency
          and other state
          agency employees
          regarding state
          registration
          procedures and
          requirements in
          federal law, such
          issues could be
          addressed through
          design and
          implementation of
          the forthcoming
          election procedures
          to carry out the
          requirements of the
          new law. Therefore,
          the Voting Section
          determined that it
          would monitor
          Florida's NVRA
          actions in the
          future in light of
          the new state
          legislation and
          ongoing federal
          legislative efforts
          in election reform
          which might also
          impact Florida's                     Voting
          election procedures.                 Section             The
          The Voting Section                   staff met     sheriff's
          closed the matter    2. The NAACP    with, among      office The Voting
          because, based on    National Voter  others,        reported Section
          its monitoring of    Fund alleged    officials      that the closed the
          the situation and    (1) that on     from the    presence of matter
          the provisions in    Election Day    county        sheriff's because
          the state law        2000, sheriff's sheriff's      deputies the
          pertinent to         deputies in     office and     near the complaint
          registration that    marked cars in  several         polling lacked
          had been precleared, Hillsborough    local         place was merit
          it concluded that    County,         residents,   related to since
          the problems which   Florida,        and spoke    a burglary there was
          occurred in the 2000 blocked access  with a poll nearby. One no
          election were being  to a polling    watcher to       of the evidence
          adequately           place, (2) that gather        sheriff's on any of
          addressed.           their presence  additional     deputies the

                                        Page 73
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                                              4. Four                     The Voting
                                                                                                              state                       Section's
                                                                                                              troopers                    investigation
                                                                                                              with the                    revealed that
                                                                                                              Florida                     the Florida
                                   learned two                                                                Department                  Highway Patrol
                                   days after                                                                 of Highway                  had set up a
                                   the election                                                               Safety and                  traffic check
                                   that the                                                                   Motor                       stop close to a
                                   same man who                                                               Vehicles                    polling place
                                   had                                                                        ran a                       (about a mile
                                   approached                                                                 driver's                    away) located in
                                   the deputies                                                               license                     a predominantly
                                   on Election                                                                checkpoint The Voting       African-American
    had an                         Day returned                                                               on         Section opened a neighborhood.
    intimidating                   to the                   3. It was The Voting                              Election   matter to        The Voting
    effect on                      polling                  alleged   Section                                 Day 2000   investigate this Section
    voters, and (3)                place and                that the  opened a                                in Leon    issue and asked  investigation    The Voting
    that at least on               successfully             design of matter                                  County,    the Florida      also indicated   Section
    one occasion                   voted. A                 the       related to   The Voting    The Voting   Florida.   State Office of  that the         closed the
    they harassed a                poll worker              butterfly this issue   Section       Section      This       the Attorney     troopers'        matter
    voter. An                      observed the             ballot in and reviewed determined    concluded    checkpoint General about    traffic stop     because
    African-American               presence of  allegations Palm      federal law  that there    that because was        the checkpoint   plan had not     there was no
    man approached   observations. the              raised. Beach     for which    was no basis  it had no    located    in Leon County.  been preapproved evidence of
    sheriff's                      sheriff's                County,   the Section  for asserting jurisdiction near       A Voting Section by their         intimidation
    deputies after                 cars around              Florida,  had          federal       concerning   (about a   attorney also    commander, as is or racial
    they left the                  the same                 violated  enforcement  jurisdiction. this matter, mile from) spoke with an    the standard     intent to
    scene of a                     time they                federal   authority to               no further   a voting   African-American procedure.       affect or
    burglary                       were                     voting    determine if               action was   precinct.  voter who was    Further          intimidate
    complaining that               responding               rights    any action                 warranted.   Another    stopped at one   investigation    voters.
    he was not                     to the                   laws.     was                        In addition, checkpoint of the driver's  revealed that
    allowed to vote.               burglary,                          appropriate.               according to was held   license          the traffic
                                   and observed                                                  the Voting   in Bay and checkpoints.     checkpoint was
                                   that no                                                       Section, the Escambia                    in effect for
                                   voter had                                                     new Florida  Counties.                   about 3 hours,
                                   been                                                          election     According                   and a higher
                                   deterred                                                      reform law   to a                        number of white
                                   from voting                                                   should help  highway                     drivers were
                                   due to the                                                    to alleviate patrol                      stopped than
                                   police                                                        faulty       official,                   African-American
                                   activity.                                                     ballot       this                        drivers.
                                                                                                 design by    checkpoint                  According the
                                                                                                 providing    was not                     Voting Section,
                                                                                                 for greater  located                     an
                                                                                                 oversight of near a                      African-American
                                                                                                 ballot       voting                      voter who was
                                                                                                 design.      precinct.

                                        Page 74
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                     The Voting
                                                     Section
                                                     attorney's
                                                     analysis of the
                                    A Voting Section documents that
                                    attorney met     DeKalb County
                                    with the         provided
                                    following in     revealed that
                                    Georgia to       most of the
                                    address these    county's polling
                                    concerns: (1)    places that
                                    the DeKalb       stayed open past
                                    County Elections closing time
                                    Supervisor, (2)  were located in
                                    the Chairman of  majority
                                    the DeKalb       African-American The county
                                    County Elections precincts. The   implemented
                                    Board, (3) the   polls' extended  the
                                    Gwinnett County  hours almost     following
                                    Elections        uniformly        changes for
                                    Supervisor, (4)  resulted from    the March
                                    the president of there being      2001
                   5. A U.S.        the DeKalb       large numbers of election:
                   Representative   County NAACP,    people in line   (1)
                   raised concerns  (5) the          as well as       increased
                   regarding long   Assistant DeKalb insufficient     the number
                   voting delays in County Attorney, numbers of poll  of voting
                   predominantly    and (6) one of   workers and      machines,
                   African-American the              voting machines. (2)
                   precincts in     representative's The attorney     assigned
                   DeKalb County,   staff members.   also determined  additional
                   Georgia during   The Voting       that there had   poll
                   the November     Section attorney been no unequal  workers and
                   2000 election.   received and     division of      managers,
                   It was alleged   reviewed         electoral        (3)
                   that there were  documents from   resources        assigned at
                   no corresponding both counties'   between majority least 10
                   delays in        elections        white and        additional
                   majority white   departments      majority         staff
                   precincts. In    regarding the    African-American members to
                   one              November 2000    precincts.       answer
      stopped was  predominantly    election. The    According to     telephones
      treated      African-American Voting Section   investigations   at the
      courteously  precinct,        attorney         of the November  Elections
      and          several hundred  requested        2000 election by Department
      proceeded    voters           additional       the county's     and
      to vote      apparently left  documents from   elections        installed
      without      the precinct     the Assistant    department, the  10 more
      incident.    without voting   DeKalb County    area manager and telephone
                   after waiting in Attorney and     his assistants   lines, and
                   line for several DeKalb County    at the main      (4) gave
                   hours. In        Elections        precinct of      the
                   districts with a Supervisor to    concern failed   Elections
                   majority of      determine if     to contact the   Department
                   white residents, there was an     precinct office  and area
                   voting lines     unequal division about the long   managers
                   apparently moved of resources     lines and        cell phones
                   quickly with     among            insufficient     in case
                   some people      African-American voting machines. regular
                   being able to    and white        The former area  telephone
                   vote in less     districts. These manager also     lines were
                   than 15 minutes. documents        denied the poll  busy. The
                   In addition, two outlined the     workers'         Voting
                   people           budget for       requests for     Section
                   complained about expenses related additional       determined
                   possible voting  to the elections voting machines, that a
                   irregularities   from 1998        stating none     dramatic
                   during a March   through 2000.    were available.  improvement
                   2001 election.   The Voting       The president of resulted
                                    Section attorney the DeKalb       from these
                                    also spoke with  County NAACP,    remedial
                                    the president of staff in the     actions
                                    the DeKalb       office of the    and, as a
                                    County NAACP and U.S. Attorney    result,
                                    the U.S.         for the Northern closed the
                                    Attorney for the District of      matter.
                                    Northern         Georgia, and the
                                    District of      DeKalb County
                                    Georgia. The     Elections
                                    Voting Section   Supervisor did
                                    attorney spoke   not receive
                                    with the two     complaints
                                    persons alleging related to
                                    fraud during the Election Day in
                                    March 2001       DeKalb County.
                                    election.        With respect to
                                                     the March 2001
                                                     allegations, the
                                                     Voting Section
                                                     attorney noted
                                                     that the two

                                        Page 75
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                        The Voting
                                                        Section's
                                                        investigation
                                                        revealed that
                      6. The Voting                     the problem
                      Section received                  likely arose
                      information that                  from the DPS
                      people in                         paperless
                      Gwinnett County,                  system to
                      Georgia who had                   obtain and
                      registered to                     renew a
                      vote via the                      driver's
                      Georgia                           license. The
                      Department of                     process seemed
                      Public Safety                     to result in
                      (DPS) were not                    people
                      on the voter                      believing they
      persons could   registration     The Voting       had been        The Voting
      not identify    rolls and were   Section spoke    registered to   Section closed
      the precincts   not allowed to   with staff in    vote when they  the matter in
      where alleged   vote. DPS        the Georgia      had not. A      April 2002
      irregularities  operated vehicle Attorney         person who      mostly because
      occurred, and   registration     General's office indicated the   the state had
      that they did   sites in         and the Georgia  intention to    created a new
      not have        Georgia.         DPS and DMV, a   register to     agency, the                                  The Voting The consent
      allegations of  Subsequently,    voter who raised vote did not    Department of                                Section    order gives
      racial          DPS began the    the allegations, receive any     Motor Vehicle                                alleged    court
      intimidation    process of       and the Deputy   confirmation at Safety, to                                   that the   jurisdiction
      or vote         transitioning    Director of      the time of the which                                        state was  over the
      suppression.    National Voter   Elections in the transaction.    responsibility                               in         proceeding
      The Voting      Registration Act Secretary of     The Voting      for voter                                    violation  until
      Section         (NVRA)           State's Office.  Section's       registration                                 of NVRA    January 31,
      attorney        responsibilities The Voting       investigation   was in the                                   and filed  2005. The
      determined      to the state's   Section          revealed that   process of                                   a          consent
      that their      newly created    monitored the    since DPS       being                                        complaint. order
      complaints      Department of    transition of    implemented a   transitioned.
      seemed to       Motor Vehicles   NVRA             paperless       The Voting
      concern         (DMV). It was    responsibilities system in 1996, Section
      Georgia state   alleged that     from DPS to the  the percentage  determined
      law, suggested  voters were      new DMV from     of those who    this system
      that they       turned away from April 2001 to    registered to   would remedy
      explore their   the polls and    April 2002.      vote at DPS     the problem.
      state law       were not offered                  sites when they
      remedies,       provisional                       applied or
      suggested that  ballots. Some                     renewed their
      they contact    voters were told                  licenses had                   7. DOJ, on
      the county      to go to the                      dropped almost                 behalf of the
      elections       county                            every year.                    United States, Following an
      department and  registration                      There was also                 alleged that   investigation,
      the office of   office, but                       evidence that                  the St. Louis  DOJ filed a
      Georgia's       officials there                   DPS officials                  Board of       complaint with
      Secretary of    told them they                    knew of                        Election       the U.S.
      State, and      were not allowed                  concerns                       Commissioners' District Court
      asked them to   to vote.                          regarding the                  (referred to   in the Eastern
      keep the                                          agency's                       hereafter as   District of
      Voting Section                                    paperless                      the Board)     Missouri on
      attorney                                          registration                   placement of   August 14,
      informed of                                       system from its                eligible       2002. On the
      developments.                                     implementation.                voters on      same date,

                                        Page 76
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
    inactive status, when combined
    with election-day procedures that
    inactive voters were required to
    follow to restore their active
    voter status and vote during the
    November 2000 and March 2001
    elections, constituted a removal
    of those voters from the voter
    registration rolls in violation
    of Section 8 of NVRA. As of the
    November 2000 general election,                  requires the Board to
    more than 54,000 registered                      initiate procedures to
    voters in St. Louis had been                     remedy the problems that
    designated as inactive and                       occurred during the
    excluded from the lists of                       November 2000 election,
    eligible voters following a                      such as improved methods
    series of mail canvasses that the                of notifying voters who
    Board conducted of its voter                     are moved to an inactive
    registration rolls. These mail                   status, improved methods
    canvasses did not include the                    of canvassing, and
    notices required by Section                      improved resources to
    8(d)(2) of NVRA. The Board did                   process eligible voters
    not make an effort to notify      DOJ entered    not included on the rolls
    inactive voters that their        into a         on Election Day. This
    registration status had changed,  consent order  relief included requiring
    that their names would not appear with the city  that every polling place
    on the voter registration lists,  of St. Louis.  have a complete list of
    or that they would face more                     registered voters,
    administrative efforts on                        including inactive
    election day before being                        voters, and a polling
    permitted to vote. As a result,                  place locator to assist
    certain eligible, but inactive                   voters in finding their
    voters, were not able to vote in                 correct precincts. The
    the November 2000 general                        consent decree is valid
    election and March 2001 municipal                until January 31, 2005.
    primary election due to the lack                 The case remains open to
    of an adequate infrastructure                    monitor implementation of
    (i.e., insufficient phone lines,                 the consent order.
    working telephones, and staff) in
    place to enable voters to
    complete the verification
    procedures required by the Board
    on election day. For the November
    2000 election, over 300 eligible
    inactive voters were able to
    obtain authorization to vote
    after going to the Board's
    headquarters as instructed by the
    election judges.

    Attachment IV

    Election-Related Closed Matters and Open Cases Initiated during Calendar
    Year 2001

    No.   Matter/Case         Jurisdiction        Date matter initiated DJ No.
        1            Matter                Florida             March 2001b    Yes
        2            Matter                Florida              June 2001b    Yes
        3            Matter                Florida              June 2001b    Yes
        4            Matter                Florida            August 2001b   No c
        5            Matter        Broward County,          October 2001 b    Yes
                                           Florida
        6            Matter Miami-Dade County,                 June 2001 b    Yes
                            Florida
        7            Matter Miami-Dade County,                 June 2001 b    Yes
                            Florida
        8  Matter (election     New York, New York               July 2001    Yes
                monitoring)
        9            Matter     Georgetown County,              April 2001    Yes
                                    South Carolina
    10            Matter       Seagraves, Texas               July 2001    Yes
    11              Case Miami-Dade County,     March 2001 (case filed     Yes
                            Florida                in June 2002) b
    12              Case Orange County, Florida   June 2001 (case filed    Yes
                                                           in June 2002) b
    13              Case        Osceola County,   June 2001 (case filed    Yes
                                           Florida         in June 2002) b
    14              Case Berks County,           March 2001 (case filed    Yes
                            Pennsylvania                 in February 2003)
    15              Case              Tennessee  April 2001 (case filed    Yes
                                                        in September 2002)

    Source: DOJ Civil Rights Division.

    b Each of these Florida matters was initiated in the period shortly after
    the November 2000 election-i.e., in November or December 2000-and was
    reported under the general DJ number for Florida discussed previously (see
    note a under the summary table for November and December 2000 and note c
    below). The above dates are the dates they received individual DJ numbers.

    For the matters that the Voting Section initiated in Florida after the
    2000 election, the Voting Section initially used a general DJ number for
    all work on investigations and inquiries related to the Florida election.
    This number was opened in November 2000. Subsequently, the Voting Section
    assigned separate DJ numbers for individual matters. The 2000 matters in
    Florida and Hillsborough County, Florida, were inadvertently not given an
    individual

    DJ number.

    Attachment IV

    Summary of Election-Related Closed Matters and Open Cases Initiated during
    Calendar Year 2001

                                        Page 78
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                    The Voting
                                                                    Section's
                                                                    investigation
                                                                    consisted of
                                                                    phone interviews
                                                                    with
                                                                    Bethune-Cookman
                                                                    students,
                                                                    on-campus
                                                                    interviews of
                                                                    FAMU students
                                                                    and student
                                                                    government       The Voting
                                                                    leaders, and a   Section
                                                                    review of        determined that
                                                                    statements taken the problems
                                                                    by a             were likely
                                                                    representative   attributable to
                                                                    of the Service   voter confusion,
                                                                    Employees        not racial
                                                                    International    animosity. The
                                                                    Union legal      Voting Section
                                                                    department       noted that the
                                                                    working in       incidents of the
                                                   1. There were    association with three FAMU
                                                   allegations made the NAACP. A     students who
                                                   by students at   Voting Section   successfully
                                                   Florida A&M      attorney         voted were
                                                   University       interviewed      isolated
                                                   (FAMU) in        three students   incidents, and
                                                   Tallahassee      on FAMU's campus since each
                                                   (Leon County),   who claimed to   student
                                                   Florida, and     experience       ultimately
                                                   Bethune-Cookman  difficulty       voted, the
                                                   College in       voting, but were problems they
                                                   Daytona Beach,   able to vote.    suggested did
                                                   Florida,         The Voting       not suggest a    The Voting
                                                   regarding        Section attorney pattern of       Section closed
    Description                                    discriminatory   left his contact intimidation or  the matter
    based on                        Disposition treatment of     information with attempted vote   because it
         Voting                        by Voting   African-American FAMU's student   denial. The      lacked merit
        Section                        Section     students in the  government       Voting Section   based on the
    information                                    registration     association for  concluded that   evidence
                                                   process or at    any individuals  most of the      gathered
                                                   the polls.       who wanted to    allegations were during the
                                                   First-time       give statements  likely to have   investigation.
                                                   voters,          regarding voting been the result
                                                   apparently       problems but     of students not
                                                   unfamiliar with  could not meet   being familiar
                                                   the registration with the         with the voting
                                                   process, had     attorney. The    process. Many
                                                   greater          Voting Section   students had
                                                   difficulty       attorney         registered at
                                                   registering to   attempted to     their permanent
                                                   vote. Older      contact all ten  home addresses
                                                   students did not students from    and did not
                                                   seem to have     Bethune-Cookman, understand they
                                                   such difficulty. but was only     had to
                                                                    able to speak    re-register in
                                                                    with three. The  Leon County. The
                                                                    attorney sent    Voting Section
                                                                    letters to the   found that voter
                                                                    remaining        inexperience and
                                                                    students but     confusion were
                                                                    never received   to blame at
                                                                    responses to the Bethune-Cookman,
                                                                    letters. The     not any pattern
                                                                    Voting Section   of
                                                                    attorney         discriminatory
                                                                    followed up with treatment.
                                                                    his contacts at
                                                                    FAMU, but the
                                                                    Voting Section
                                                                    did not receive
                                                                    any response
                                                                    from students to
                  Voting                                            its efforts to
                Section's    Voting                                 conduct further
                 actions    Section's                               inquiries. The
                 taken to  assessment                               student
                 address       of                                   government
                allegation allegations                              association

    Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment
        IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV

                                        Page 79
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                                                   The Voting
                                                                                                                   Section
                                                                                                                   closed the
                                                                                                                   matter in
                                                                                                                   April 2002.
                                                                                                                   The closing
                                                                                                                   memo noted
                                                                                                                   that the new
                                                                                                    The evidence   statute
                                                                                                    gathered by    appears to
                                                                                                    the Voting     require no
                                                                                                    Section showed additional
                                                                                                    that the       procedures
                                                                                                    matching at    for accurate
                                                                                                    the state      name matching
                                                                                                    level was set  compared to
                                                                                                    up in a way    the old law.
                                                                                                    that it        It also noted
                                                                                                    captured names that the new
                                                                                                    that were less statute
                                                                                                    than definite  appeared to
                                                                                    The Voting      matches. The   codify a
                                                                      2. Beginning  Section         Voting Section procedure
                                                                      in 1999,      reviewed        also learned   used by many
                                                                      under Florida testimony from  that after     counties
                                                                      state law,    Florida         receiving the  under prior
                                                                      the state     election        stategenerated law where
                                                                      contracted    officials and   list,          voters whose
                                                                      with a firm   representatives counties'      names are
                                                                      to compare    of the company  actions        matched by
                                                                      names of      that compiled   varied. For    the state
                                                                      registered    the database    example, some  must
                                                                      voters with   and obtained    counties       affirmatively
                                                                      names of      information on  refused to use prove their
                                                                      convicted     how the lists   the list       eligibility
                                                                      felons who    of felons'      because they   to avoid
                                                                      under Florida names were      perceived it   removal.
                                                                      law were      matched to      to contain     However, the
                                                                      disqualified  voter           many errors.   Voting
                                                                      from voting.  registration    Other counties Section
                                                                      The state     lists. The      sent letters   closing memo
                                                                      elections     Voting Section  to all the     also noted
                                                                      division sent also did        people on the  that the new
                                                                      lists of      extensive       state's list   voter purge
                                                                      felon names   additional      telling them   procedures
                                                                      for each of   investigation   that their     (which
                                                                      Florida's 67  to determine    names were     included the
    Description                                                       counties to   whether the     matched to     assurances
    based on                        Disposition                    election      method in which those of       made by the
         Voting                        by Voting                      officials in  Florida         disqualified   Attorney
        Section                        Section                        those         compiled a list felons, and    General of
    information                                                       counties for  of felons and   they would be  Florida to
                                                                      investigation how they purged required to    protect
                                                                      and purging.  these felons    show their     voters from
                                                                      The Voting    violated any of eligibility to erroneous
                                                                      Section was   the statutes    vote or be     purging) had
                                                                      concerned     enforced by the removed from   been
                                                                      that county   Voting Section. the rolls. The precleared on
                                                                      and state     In addition,    Voting Section March 28,
                                                                      actions with  the Voting      determined     2002. It
                                                                      regards to    Section         that evidence  further
                                                                      the purging   reviewed        gathered for   stated that
                                                                      process may   Florida's 2001  this matter    the Florida
                                                                      have been     election reform was            felon purge
                                                                      flawed and    law pursuant to inconclusive,  statute in
                                                                      impermissible Section 5 of    but showed     effect at the
                                                                      under NVRA.   the Voting      there was a    time of the
                                                                      The Voting    Rights Act.     possibility    2000 election
                                                                      Section       This review     that voters    no longer
                                                                      questioned    included        could have     existed and
                                                                      whether       provisions of   been removed   that any
                                                                      eligible      the new law     in violation   litigation
                                                                      voters had    related to the  of federal     against it
                                                                      been          voter purge     law. With      based on how
                                                                      inadvertently procedures that respect to the that law was
                                                                      removed from  were the        Section 5      implemented
                                                                      the voter     subject of the  review of the  would be
                                                                      rolls.        investigation.  2001 election  moot. Based
                                                                                                    reform law,    on these two
                                                                                                    this law was   factors, the
                                                                                                    precleared on  matter was
                                                                                                    March 28, 2002 closed. The
                                                                                                    after careful  memo also
                                                    also posted and                                 review.        stated that
                                                    distributed                                     Preclearance   the Voting
                                                    flyers and sent                                 was granted    Section may
                                                    out internet                                    only after     open a new
                                                    notices with                                    receiving      investigation
                                                    the attorney's                                  explicit       depending on
                                                    contact                                         assurances     any
                                                    information.                                    from the       information
                                                    Neither the                                     Attorney       received
                                                    attorney nor                                    General of     regarding the
                                                    the student                                     Florida        operation of
                  Voting                            association at                                  describing how the new
                Section's    Voting                 FAMU received                                   the law would  statute and
                 actions    Section's               additional                                      be implemented related
                 taken to  assessment               allegations of                                  with respect   regulations.
                 address       of                   voting                                          to voter purge Finally, the
                allegation allegations              irregularities.                                 lists          closing memo

                                        Page 80
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                     generated by
                                                     the state
                                                     pursuant to
                                                     the new state  also made
                                                     law. These     note of                                          The Voting
                                                     assurances     pending                                          Section
                                                     included (1) a litigation                        The            closed this
                                                     statement that in the case                       investigation  matter
                                                     there would    of NAACP v.                       found that     because it
                                                     not be a       Harris,                           Florida        found no
                                                     presumption in which       3. A        A Voting  counties with  evidence
                                                     favor of the   included    newspaper   Section   optical scan   indicating a
                                                     accuracy of    allegations article     attorney  machines that  violation of
                                                     the statewide  that the    provided to analyzed  activated the  federal law.
                                                     database, and  voter purge DOJ by a    rates of  spoilage       Moreover,
                                                     any            list used   member of   ballot    detection      election
                                                     presumption    in 2000     the U.S.    spoilage  technology had reform
                                                     would be in    violated    Senate      in        lower rates of legislation
                                                     favor of the   the NVRA.   provided    counties  ballot         enacted in
                                                     voter and (2)  Subsequent  information that had  spoilage than  Florida in
                                                     the appearance to the      that        disabled  counties that  May of 2001
                                                     of a voter's   April 2002  officials   the       did not have   requires all
                                                     name on any    closing of  in several  spoilage  or did not use counties to
                                                     voter purge    this        Florida     detection the            acquire
    Description                                      list of        matter, a   counties    function  technology.    voting
    based on                        Disposition   potentially    settlement  disabled a  in their  Some counties  machines with
         Voting                        by Voting     ineligible     was reached feature in  optical   that had this  precinctbased
        Section                        Section       voters         in this     optical     scan      detection      spoilage
    information                                      generated by   case which  scan voting machines  feature        detection
                                                     the state      required    machines    and       disabled it on technology by
                                                     would not by   new         used during compared  their voting   September
                                                     itself confirm procedures  the         those     machines.      2002. The
                                                     a voter's      for how the November    rates to  There were     election
                                                     ineligibility, state was   2000        those of  also isolated  reform law
                                                     and that the   to complete election to ballot    instances      also requires
                                                     burden of      its voter   detect      spoilage  where the      counties to
                                                     determining    purge lists ballots     in        technology was activate this
                                                     ineligibility  in the      spoiled by  counties  either         technology
                                                     was on county  future.     over-voting that had  disabled or    during
                                                     supervisors of This change and allow   not       failed to      voting. The
                                                     elections, a   in voter    voters to   disabled  function       Attorney
                                                     burden which   purging     correct the this      properly. The  General,
                                                     must meet the  procedures  error.      function. Voting Section under Section                                         The
                                                     highest degree was                               determined     5 of the VRA,                                      Voting
                                                     of proof.      precleared                        that there was precleared        4. The                Several   Section
                                                     These          under                             no evidence    election            U.S. The Voting    analyses concluded
                                                     assurances     Section 5                         that the       procedures    Commission Section      suggested      that
                                                     were           of the                            disabling of   provided for    on Civil reviewed the  patterns there was
                  Voting                             specifically   Voting                            this feature   in this           Rights findings of  of racial  no basis
                Section's    Voting                  noted when     Rights Act                        was done with  legislation.    issued a the          disparity       for
                 actions    Section's                preclearance   in 2003.                          a                                report Commission's    in the  bringing
                 taken to  assessment                was issued by                                    discriminatory               that posed report          ballot a Section
                 address       of                    the Voting                                       effect or                     questions regarding    rejection 2 lawsuit
                allegation allegations               Section.                                         purpose.                      regarding ballot       practices   against

                                        Page 81
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                            Florida on
                                                                                            the basis of
                                                                                            the evidence
                                                                                            of racial
                                                                                            disparities                             Based on
                                                                                            found in                  The Voting    information
                                                                                            spoilage                  Section       that the
                                                                                            rates.                    opened a      county
                                                                                            Furthermore,              matter and    provided, the
                                                                                            it was                    looked into   Voting
                                                                             of a few       determined                the county's  Section found
                                                                             Florida        that because              compliance    that the
                                                   spoiled                   counties       Florida's                 with the      county
                                                   ballots in                during one     2001                      Voting        conducted
                                                   Florida                   election.      election                  Accessibility polling place
                                                   during the                However, the   reform law                for the       surveys in
                                                   November                  Voting Section required new              Elderly and   1999 and      As a result
                                                   2000                      determined     election                  Handicapped   conducted     of the
                                                   election.                 that the       machines,                 Act (VAEHA).  another       problems
                                                   The                       disparity      significant               The Voting    survey        experienced
                                                   Commission   rejection    alone did not  steps had                 Section sent  devised to    in the 2000
                                                   questioned   disparity    meet the       been taken                a letter to   address the   election, the
                                                   whether the  and several  standards for  by Florida                the Broward   problem of    Florida
                                                   racial       newspaper    a Section 2    towards                   County        disabled      legislature
                                                   disparity in studies of   lawsuit. The   remedying                 Supervisor of voters'       enacted
                                                   spoiled      the spoilage Voting Section the election 5. DOJ       Elections     access to the changes to
                                                   ballots that issue. It    noted that     problems     received     requesting    polls. The    its
                                                   occurred in  then         more           with respect allegations  specific      investigation accessibility
                                                   Florida in   prepared a   investigation, to voting    of           information   revealed that requirements
    Description                                    2000 was a   factual and  analysis, and  machines.    inaccessible regarding     the people    for polling
    based on                        Disposition violation of legal        careful        The Voting   polling      procedures in conducting    places and
         Voting                        by Voting   Section 2 of analysis of  thought would  Section also places and   place to      the surveys   voting
        Section                        Section     the Voting   issues       have to be     concluded    voting       ensure the    had no        machines. In
    information                                    Rights Act.  raised in    given to the   that it      booths in    physical      training in   light of this
                                                   The          the          causes of      would make   Broward      accessibility accessibility and the
                                                   Commission   Commission's ballot         sense to     County,      of polling    standards.    Voting
                                                   stated that  report to    rejection      monitor the  Florida.     places for    The county    Section's
                                                   the U.S.     determine if problems in    actions of                federal       provided the  determination
                                                   Department   a Section 2  Florida, the   Florida and               elections     Voting        that the new
                                                   of Justice   violation    actual level   its counties              pursuant to   Section       Florida law
                                                   (DOJ) should had          of racial      over the                  VAEHA.        attorney with went further
                                                   specifically occurred.    disparities,   subsequent                Attorneys     a memo and a  than the
                                                   investigate               and the role   few years to              from the      plan stating  requirements
                                                   whether the               played by      see whether               Voting        that Florida  in VAEHA, the
                                                   racial                    state and      they would                Section and   intended to   investigation
                                                   disparity in              county         follow                    the Civil     purchase new  was closed.
                                                   spoiled                   officials      through in                Rights        touch-screen
                                                   ballots                   before a       acquiring                 Division's    voting
                                                   violated                  decision could new voting                Disability    machines with
                                                   Section 2.                be made        machines                  Rights        an audio
                                                                             concerning a   with error                Section met   component for
                                                                             Section 2      detection                 with the      the blind or
                                                                             violation.     technologies              county        visually
                                                                                            and                       supervisor of impaired,
                                                                                            educating                 elections and with one such
                                                                                            voters to                 the           voting
                                                                                            see what                  supervisor's  machine
                  Voting                                                                    impact such               attorney to   available per
                Section's    Voting                                                         actions                   discuss       precinct.
                 actions    Section's                                                       would have                physical
                 taken to  assessment                                                       on ballot                 accessibility
                 address       of                                                           rejection                 of polling
                allegation allegations                                                      rates.                    places and

                                        Page 82
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                    purchase of
                                                    new voting
                                                    machines. The
                                                    Voting
                                                    Section and
                                                    Disability
                                                    Rights
                                                    Section's
                                                    attorneys
                                                    requested
                                                    documentation
                                                    such as
                                                    copies of
                                                    county
                                                    surveys
                                                    covering        6. It was
                                                    accessibility   alleged that
                                                    procedures, a   a crowd of
                                                    list of         persons
                                                    polling place   attempted to
                                                    changes         intimidate
                                                    spurred by      election                 Based on
                                                    accessibility   officials on             the
                                                    concerns; a     the                      information
                                                    list of         canvassing               gathered,
                                                    disability      board of                 the Voting
                                                    community       Miami-Dade               Section
                                                    contacts with   County,       The Voting determined
                                                    whom            Florida,         Section that no
                                                    officials       during the      attorney cause of       The Voting
                                                    from the        presidential    reviewed action            Section
    Description                                     office of the   vote recount         the existed         concluded
    based on                        Disposition  county          after the    allegations under the         that no
         Voting                        by Voting    supervisor of   November      along with civil             further
        Section                        Section      elections       2000            numerous enforcement investigation
    information                                     met, and        election. It accounts of provisions  was warranted
                                                    procedures      was alleged  events that of the         and closed
                                                    for             that this     transpired federal       the matter.
                                                    reassignment    group's        that day. voting laws
                                                    or curbside     activities               that the
                                                    voting. The     at the                   Voting                                                          The
                                                    county          county                   Section is                                                      Voting
                                                    provided both   courthouse               charged                                                         Section
                                                    attorneys       during the               with                                                            closed
                                                    with a          recount                  enforcing.                                          The         the
                                                    demonstration   intimidated                                                                  discussions matter
                                                    of the new      the                                                                          that the    because
                                                    touch-screen    canvassing                                                       The Voting  Voting      it lacked
                                                    voting          board into                                                       Section     Section     merit.
                                                    machines with   abandoning                                                       attorney    conducted   According
                                                    an audio        the recount.                                                     examined    with        to the
                                                    component for                                                                    voter       counsel for Voting
                                                    the blind or                                                       7. There were turnout     Miami-Dade  Section,
                                                    visually                                                           allegations   data for    County      the
                                                    impaired. The                                                      made after    the two     indicated   evidence
                                                    Voting                                                             the November  precincts   that all of that the
                                                    Section                                                            2000 election in          the         Voting
                                                    attorney also                                                      that ballot   question.   county's    Section
                                                    contacted the                                                      boxes in two  The Voting  ballot      collected
                                                    county                                                             predominantly Section     boxes had   made it
                                                    supervisor of                                                      minority      attorney    been        seem
                  Voting                            election's                                                         precincts in  also held   accounted   doubtful
                Section's    Voting                 attorney                                                           Miami-Dade    discussions for on that that
                 actions    Section's               requesting                                                         County,       with the    day.        there
                 taken to  assessment               information                                                        Florida, had  First       According   were any
                 address       of                   on VAEHA                                                           not been      Assistant   to the      missing
                allegation allegations              compliance.                                                        picked up on  County      county      ballot

                                        Page 83
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                                                        Thirty federal
                                                                                                                        observers
                                                                                                                        monitored
                                                                                                                        activities at 31
                                                                                                                        polling places
                                                                                                                        in Bronx County
                                                                                          8. The                        and 12 polling
                                                                                          Voting                        places in
                                                                                          Section                       Brooklyn County
                                                                                          opened this                   during the
                                                                                          matter in                     municipal
                                                                                          August 2001                   general
                                                                                          to initiate                   elections. Three
                                                                                          the                           staff members
                                                                                          monitoring   In pre-election  from DOJ's Civil
                                                                                          of an        activities, two  Rights Division
                                                                                          election in  Civil Rights     and one AUSA for
                                                                                          New York     Division         the Southern
                                                                                          City in      attorneys met    District of New
                                                                                          November     with officials   York traveled
                                                                                          2001 on the  from the New     with the         The Voting
                                                                                          basis of     York City Board  observers to     Section closed
                                                                                          observations of Elections to  provide          the matter
                                                                        supervisor        made during  discuss concerns additional       because the
                                                                        of                the November about            monitoring. Two  monitoring of
                                                                        elections,        2000         preparations for Voting Section   the election was
                                                                        the boxes         election.    the election,    staff members    completed.
                                                                        that were         Thirty       including the    visited six      Voting Section
                                                                        later             federal      need for poll    polling places   staff could not
                                                                        located in        observers    worker training  in both          comprehensively
                                                                        the two           and seven    for the          counties. During identify failure
                                                                        precincts         DOJ staff    election, the    the election,    by individual
                                                                        contained         members      need for voting  observers found  poll workers to
                                                                        election          monitored    machines to      that materials   post or provide
                                                             Attorney   supplies,         polling      accommodate the  to be displayed  all materials to
                                                   Election  in         not               place        number of        to inform        Spanishspeaking
                                                   Day, and  Miami-Dade ballots.          procedures   registered       Spanish-speaking voters because
    Description                                    that they County,    Analysis          during       voters, the need voters of        of the large
    based on                        Disposition were      who in     of data           municipal    for              assistance to    number of
         Voting                        by Voting   allegedly turn       from the   boxes. general      Spanish-language interpret the    election
        Section                        Section     later     contacted  two               elections in voter            ballot were not  districts-nearly
    information                                    found in  the county precincts         2001 in      registration     always clear or  2,000-and the
                                                   the       supervisor indicated         Kings County materials for    in public view   small number of
                                                   polling   of         that both         (also known  poll workers to  at nearly half   observers.
                                                   places.   elections. precincts         as Brooklyn) distribute       of the polling   However, the
                                                                        reported          and in Bronx minority         places in both   Voting Section
                                                                        voter             County. The  language         counties. The    found that the
                                                                        turnout           Attorney     assistance, and  Board of         Board of
                                                                        rates in          General had  consolidation of Election         Elections was
                                                                        the               previously   polling places.  officials were   very responsive
                                                                        expected          certified    A Voting Section informed of this to all of the
                                                                        range             both         attorney also    and took action. Voting Section's
                                                                        given the         counties for attended four    These officials  concerns and
                                                                        county's          federal      pollworker       noted that it    sent Board
                                                                        overall           observers    training         was up to each   officials to
                                                                        turnout           pursuant to  classes. After   polling place    places where
                                                                        rate.             Section 6 of the election,    inspector to     problems arose,
                                                                                          the Voting   the Voting       display the      usually within
                                                                                          Rights Act.  Section          materials they   30 minutes.
                                                                                          Also, 17     attorneys met    are given. Poll
                                                                                          federal      with several     workers were
                                                                                          observers    Board of         observed asking
                                                                                          and 5 Voting Elections        voters for
                                                                                          Section      officials to     identification,
                                                                                          attorneys    debrief them.    which was in
                                                                                          monitored                     violation of New
                                                                                          polling                       York State law;
                                                                                          place                         Board of
                                                                                          procedures                    Election
                                                                                          during the                    officials were
                                                                                          general                       notified of this
                                                                                          election in                   and went to the
                                                                                          2002 in                       polling place to
                                                                                          Brooklyn.                     address the
                  Voting                                                                                                issue. DOJ
                Section's    Voting                                                                                     monitors did not
                 actions    Section's                                                                                   witness any
                 taken to  assessment                                                                                   Spanish-speaking
                 address       of                                                                                       poll workers at
                allegation allegations                                                                                  the 12

                                        Page 84
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                                     Voting
                                                                                                     Section staff
                                                                                                     wrote to the
                                                                                                     Voter
                                                                                                     Registration
                                                                                                     and Election
                                                                                                     Commission
                                                                                                     for
                                                                                                     Georgetown
                                                                                                     County
                                                                                                     outlining the
                                                     polling                                         allegations
                                                     locations                                       concerning
                                                     visited in                                      the rude
                                                     Brooklyn;                                       treatment by
                                                     this was       9. The Voting                    the poll
                                                     discussed      Section received                 worker and
                                                     with Board of  an allegation    The Voting      the Voting
                                                     Election       from an          Section         Section's
                                                     officials;     African-American attorney        findings and
                                                     however, DOJ   voter that a     interviewed     asked the
                                                     officials      supervisor at a  officials with  commission
                                                     found that     voting precinct  the Georgetown  how it        The Voting
                                                     appropriate    in Georgetown    County Board of planned to    Section closed
                                                     language       County, South    Registration    respond. The  the matter on
                                                     assistance     Carolina,        and Elections,  county's      March 9, 2004.
                                                     was available  discriminated    representatives Voter         As of that date,
                                                     in both        against          of the          Registration  the Voting
                                                     counties.      African-American Republican and  and Election  Section had not
                                                     Seventeen      voters during    Democratic      Commission    received
                                                     federal        the 2000         parties,        responded in  additional
                                                     observers and  presidential     voters, and an  writing that  complaints
    Description                                      five           election. The    attorney        the election  concerning the
    based on                        Disposition   attorneys      voter alleged    representing    supervisor    treatment of
         Voting                        by Voting     from the       that the         the county. The was informed  African-American
        Section                        Section       Civil Rights   supervisor       Voting Section  by letter     voters in
    information                                      Division       treated          attorney also   that she      Georgetown
                                                     monitored      African-American interviewed an  would be      County or about
                                                     polling place  voters in a rude official who    reassigned to voting
                                                     procedures     and              managed the     another       registration
                                                     during the     discriminating   Georgetown      precinct and  issues
                                                     general        manner. In       County DMV      not permitted previously
                                                     election in    talking to the   office          to serve in a investigated.
                                                     Kings County.  complainant and  regarding the   supervisory   According to the
                                                     The Voting     others, it was   second-hand     capacity for  complainant, the
                                                     Section        learned that     allegations     the June 11,  election held on
                                                     attorney who   there were also  from a          2002,         June 11,2002,
                                                     attended four  alleged voter    Democratic      election. She went smoothly.
                                                     poll-worker    registration     party           decided not
                                                     training       problems during  representative  to work the
                                                     classes found  the 2000         regarding       June 2002
                                                     that the       election related possible        election.
                                                     classes        to precinct      registration    Other issues
                                                     appropriately  changes and the  problems at the examined in
                                                     addressed      local DMV.       local DMV.      this
                                                     minority                        After           investigation
                                                     language                        interviewing    were not
                                                     issues and                      the DMV         raised with
                                                     assistance.                     official and    the county in
                                                                                     examining the   this letter.
                                                                                     forms that the  With respect
                                                                                     DMV provides to to the
                                                                                     drivers         precinct
                                                                                     applying for    change
                  Voting                                                             new licenses to allegations,
                Section's    Voting                                                  simultaneously  the Voting
                 actions    Section's                                                allow them to   Section
                 taken to  assessment                                                register to     learned that
                 address       of                                                    vote, the       confusion as
                allegation allegations                                               Voting Section  to proper

                                        Page 85
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                    attorney
                                                    noted that
                                                    the form on
                                                    the DMV
                                                    driver's
                                                    license
                                                    application
                                                    did not
                                                    contain a
                                                    box for
                                                    people to
                                                    check if
                                                    they wanted
                                                    to register
                                                    to vote and
                                                    that this
                                                    might not    voting
                                                    adhere to    precincts
                                                    the NVRA     was likely
                                                    provision    the result
                                                    for a        of a change
                                                    simultaneous in the
                                                    process to   method of
                                                    apply for a  identifying
                                                    driver's     addresses                                        The Voting
                                                    license and  of voters.                                       Section
                                                    register to  With                                             attorney
                                                    vote. In     respect to                                       suggested
                                                    addition, in allegations                                      that the
                                                    the          about the                                        town should
                                                    interview    DMV                                              make an
                                                    with the     procedures,  10. The     A Voting                effort to
                                                    employee in  the Voting   Voting      Section                 educate
                                                    the local    Section      Section     attorney                voters of
                                                    DMV office,  received no  received a  visited                 district
                                                    the Voting   complaints   complaint   Seagraves               boundaries
                                                    Section      from voters  alleging    and the                 by methods
                                                    attorney     who          that the    Seagraves               other than
                                                    learned that indicated    Seagraves   Independent             newspaper
    Description                                     they may     that the     Independent School      Information advertising.
    based on                        Disposition  have been    alleged      School      Board. The  in a        Subsequent
         Voting                        by Voting    only asking  problems at  District    Voting      newspaper   to the
        Section                        Section      people       the DMV      and the     Section     article     election,
    information                                     applying for existed or   City of     also        indicated   the city of
                                                    new drivers' resulted in  Seagraves,  contacted a that the    Seagraves
                                                    licenses,    denying      both in     newspaper   allegations sent a map
                                                    not people   them the     Texas, held to review   were        of district
                                                    renewing     right to     elections   published   untrue, and boundaries
                                                    their        vote. In     without     articles    that all    and
                                                    licenses, if addition,    bilingual   regarding   election    candidates
                                                    they wanted  after the    judges or   the school  material    running in
                                                    to register  examination  bilingual   board       was         each
                                                    to vote.     of the DMV   training.   election.   produced in district to
                                                    However,     forms and                            English and each city
                                                    this         interview                            Spanish.    household.
                                                    employee     with the                             The Voting  The Voting
                                                    further      local DMV                            Section     Section
                                                    informed the employee,                            attorney    closed the
                                                    Voting       it was                               was told    matter.
                                                    Section      concluded                            that
                                                    attorney     that there                           confusion
                                                    that in      did not                              existed for
                                                    October 2000 appear to                            all voters
                                                    she received be a                                 because of
                                                    instructions violation                            the present
                                                    from the     of the                               districting
                                                    head of the  NVRA.                                system. The
                                                    state DMV to                                      Seagraves
                                                    ask every                                         City
                                                    person who                                        Secretary
                                                    was applying                                      wrote a
                                                    for a                                             letter to
                                                    driver's                                          the Voting
                                                    license                                           Section
                                                    whether he                                        attorney
                                                    or she                                            stating
                                                    wished to                                         that each
                                                    register to                                       year the
                  Voting                            vote, and                                         city names
                Section's    Voting                 she followed                                      a Hispanic
                 actions    Section's               that                                              judge who
                 taken to  assessment               instruction                                       is also
                 address       of                   through the                                       bilingual.
                allegation allegations              election.                                         The City

                                        Page 86
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                                   Evidence
                                                                                                   gathered during
                                                                                                   the
                                                                                                   investigation
                                                                                                   demonstrated
                                                                                                   that
                                                                                                   Creolespeaking
                                                                                                   Haitian-American
                                                                                                   voters at
                                                                                                   several
                                                                                                   precincts were
                                                                                                   denied           A consent order
                                                                                                   assistance from  was entered into
                                                                   11. During the   After a full   persons of their on June 17,
                                                                   November 2000    investigation, choice in        2002, that, in
                                                                   election,        the Voting     violation of     part, prohibited
                                                                   Miami-Dade       Section        Section 208 of   the county from
                                                                   County, Florida, initiated      the Voting       denying
                                                                   allegedly        litigation     Rights Act.      Haitian-American
                                                                   engaged in       against        Oftentimes, only voters
                                                                   practices that   Miami-Dade     poll workers,    assistance from
                                                                   prevented the    County because who did not      persons of their                  After
                                                                   county's         of its alleged speak Creole,    choice and                        investigating
                                                                   Creolespeaking   violation of   were permitted   mandated that                     these
                                                                   Haitian-American Section 208 of to assist the    the county take                   allegations,      In the
                                                                   voters with      the Voting     voters, and they certain steps to                  DOJ filed a   complaint,
                                                                   limited ability  Rights Act.    limited their    prevent                           complaint in  the Voting
                                                                   to speak English Prior to       assistance to    violations of                     the U.S.         Section
    Description                                                    from securing    initiating     voter            Section 208 and                   District         alleged
    based on                        Disposition                 assistance at    litigation,    demonstrations   to redress the                    Court for the       that
         Voting                        by Voting                   the polls. In    the Voting     outside the      harm caused                       Middle            Orange
        Section                        Section                     circumstances    Section        voting booths.   these voters,                     District of       County
    information                                                    where the county conducted an   The Voting       such as                           Florida on      violated
                                                                   permitted voter  investigation  Section did not  modifying poll                    June 28,             VRA
                                                                   assistance from  of the         find evidence    worker training                   2002, and       Sections
                                                                   persons of the   county's voter that             to include                        entered into     203 and
                                                                   voters' choice,  assistance     noncompliance    instruction on                    a consent           208.
                                                                   the scope of the practices      with Section 208 how to handle                     decree with
                                                                   assistance was   during the     was the result   requests for                      Orange County
                                                                   limited (e.g.,   2000 election. of intentional   language                          on October 9,
                                                     Secretary     standing next to DOJ filed a    discrimination.  assistance. The  12. As described 2002.                    The case is
                                                     also          voters during    complaint with In this regard,  consent order is in DOJ's                                  open to
                                                     provided the  poll worker      the U.S.       it was noted     in effect        complaint, DOJ                            monitor
                                                     Voting        demonstrations)  District Court that the         through          alleged that                              implementation
                                                     Section       and of little    in the         Miami-Dade Board December. 31,    various election                          of the consent
                                                     attorney      value to voters  Southern       of County        2005. The case   practices and                             decree. The
                                                     with minutes  once they        District for   Commissioners    is open to       procedures in                             consent decree
                                                     of prior      entered the      Florida on     passed           monitor          Orange County,                            permits DOJ to
                                                     city council  voting booths.   June 7, 2002.  ordinances in    implementation   Florida,                                  monitor
                                                     meetings                                      1999 and 2000    of the consent   unlawfully                                elections in
                                                     highlighting                                  mandating that   order.           denied or                                 Orange County
                                                     the                                           Haitian-Creole                    abridged the                              from October
                                                     nomination                                    ballot                            voting rights of                          9, 2002 until
                                                     and approval                                  translations be                   Spanish-speaking                          January 31,
                                                     of the                                        available in                      citizens. The                             2005. The
                                                     election                                      voting booths                     challenged                                consent decree
                  Voting                             judges, and                                   located at                        practices                                 also mandates
                Section's    Voting                  a sample                                      precincts where                   concerned the                             policies and
                 actions    Section's                ballot                                        "significant"                     alleged failure                           procedures
                 taken to  assessment                printed in                                    numbers of                        of the county                             that Orange
                 address       of                    both English                                  Haitian-American                  to: (1) provide                           County must
                allegation allegations               and Spanish.                                  people vote.                      an                                        adopt with

                                        Page 87
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                       13. As described
                                                                                       in DOJ's
                                                                                       complaint, DOJ
                                                                                       alleged that
                                                                                       Osceola County,
                                                                                       Florida, engaged                          The case is open
                                                                                       in various                                to monitor
                                                                                       election                                  implementation
                                                                                       practices and                             of the consent
                                                                                       procedures that                           decree. The
                                                                                       unlawfully                                consent decree
                                                                                       denied                                    allows DOJ to
                                                                                       Spanishspeaking                           monitor
                                                                                       citizens an                               elections held
                                                                                       opportunity                               in Osceola                       After
                                                                                       equal to that of                          County from the                  extensive      In the
                                                                                       other citizens                            date of the                      investigation, complaint, the
                                                                                       to vote. The                              consent decree                   which included Voting Section
                                                                                       challenged       After                    through January       14. It was the monitoring alleged that
                                                                      regards to       practices        investigating            31, 2005. It       alleged that, of several     actions
                                                                      treatment of     concerned: (1)   the matter,              specifies          in conducting elections held contributing to
                                                                      Spanish-speaking the failure of   DOJ filed a              procedures that     elections in in the county, the denial by
                                                                      voters. The      poll officials   complaint in      In the the Osceola        Reading City, the Voting     Berks County to
                                                                      consent decree   to communicate   the U.S.      complaint, County Board of    Pennsylvania, Section        provide         On July 17,
                                                                      is valid until   effectively to   District      the Voting Elections must      Berks County initiated      Hispanic        2003, DOJ
    Description                                                       January 31,      Spanish-speaking Court for the    Section implement with   denied Hispanic litigation     citizens with   filed a
    based on                        Disposition                    2005. DOJ did    voters necessary Middle           alleged regards to the     citizens with against Berks  limited English motion for
         Voting                        by Voting                      not contend that information      District of         that treatment of     limited English County because proficiency an  (1)
        Section                        Section                        Orange County's  concerning their Florida on       Osceola Spanishspeaking   proficiency an of its alleged equal           permanent
    information                                                       failure to       eligibility to   June 28,          County voters and                 equal violation of   opportunity to  injunction
                                                                      adhere to VRA    vote, voter      2002, and       violated efforts the       opportunity to several        participate in  and entry of
                                                                      Sections 203 and registration     entered into         VRA county must       participate in provisions of  the political   final
                                                                      208 was the      status,          a consent     Sections 2 engage in to       the political the Voting     process and     judgment
                                                                      result of        identification   decree with     and 208. facilitate           process and Rights Act.    elect the       that sought
                                                   adequate number    intentional      requirements,    Osceola                  voting by              elect the DOJ filed a    representatives to
                                                   of bilingual       discrimination.  and polling      County on                Spanish-speaking representatives complaint with of their choice permanently
                                                   poll workers                        place changes    July 22,                 voters. The             of their the U.S.       included the    enjoin the
                                                   trained to                          and assignments; 2002.                    consent decree           choice. District Court following: poll county's
                                                   assist Hispanic                     (2) the refusal                           is valid through                 for the        officials       conduct of
                                                   voters on                           of poll                                   January 31,                      Eastern        directed        elections
                                                   Election Day;                       officials to                              2005. DOJ did                    District       hostile remarks using
                                                   (2) ensure that                     allow certain                             not contend that                                                policies,
                                                   poll officials                      Spanishspeaking                           Osceola County                                                  practices,
                                                   allow                               voters                                    intended to deny                                                procedures,
                                                   Spanish-speaking                    assistance in                             Spanishspeaking                                                 and methods
                                                   voters to have                      voting by                                 voters an equal                                                 that violate
                                                   persons of their                    persons of their                          opportunity to                                                  certain VRA
                                                   choice assist                       choice; and (3)                           participate in                                                  requirements
                                                   them in casting                     hostile remarks                           the political                                                   and (2) the
                                                   their ballots;                      by poll                                   process.                                                        court to
                  Voting                           and (3)                             officials                                                                                                 issue an
                Section's    Voting                translate                           directed towards                                                                                          order
                 actions    Section's              certain written                     Hispanic voters                                                                                           authorizing
                 taken to  assessment              election                            with limited                                                                                              OPM to
                 address       of                  materials into                      English                                                                                                   appoint
                allegation allegations             Spanish.                            proficiency.                                                                                              federal

                                        Page 88
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                             15. As
                                                                                             described in
                                                                                             DOJ's
                                                                                             complaint, DOJ
                                                                                             alleged that
                                                                                             the state of
                                                                                             Tennessee
                                                                                             engaged in
                                                                                             practices that
                                                                                             unlawfully
                                                                                             denied certain
                                                                                             citizens full
                                                                 at, and acted in            and complete
                                                                 a hostile manner            opportunities
                                                                 toward, Hispanic            to register to
                                                                 voters to deter  examiners  vote in                                 The case is
                                                                 them from voting pursuant   elections for                           open to
                                                                 and make them    to VRA to  federal office                          monitor
                                                                 feel unwelcome   serve in   as mandated by                          implementation
                                                                 at the polls;    Berks      NVRA. The                               of the consent
                                                                 poll officials   County     challenged     After                    decree. The
                                                                 engaged in       through    practices      investigating            consent decree
                                                                 election         June 30,   included the   this matter,             requires the
                                                                 practices        2007. The  failure of the DOJ filed a              state and
                                                                 including the    court      state and      complaint                state agencies
                                                                 failure to       granted    agency         against the       In the to develop
                                                                 communicate      the United officials to:  state of      complaint, uniform
                                                                 effectively with States'    (1) provide    Tennessee in  the Voting procedures
    Description                                               of Spanish-speaking motion on  applications   the U.S.         Section with regards
    based on                        Disposition  Pennsylvania voters regarding August 20, to register to District         alleged to the voter
         Voting                        by Voting     on February necessary        2003. The  vote           Court of            that application
        Section                        Section         25, 2003. information      case       simultaneously Tennessee on   Tennessee process and
    information                                                  about their      remains    with           September 27,   violated the
                                                                 eligibility to   open for   applications   2002. On that provisions implementation
                                                                 vote, voter      monitoring for motor      same day, the   in NVRA. of NVRA and
                                                                 registration     and        vehicle        state of                 report
                                                                 status,          several    driver's       Tennessee                progress to
                                                                 identification   elections  licenses       entered into             DOJ annually
                                                                 requirements,    have been  (including     a consent                while the
                                                                 and polling      monitored  renewal        decree with              consent decree
                                                                 place changes    since      applications); DOJ.                     is in effect.
                                                                 and assignments, entry of   (2) request                             The consent
                                                                 and turning away the        only the                                decree expires
                                                                 Hispanic voters  consent    minimum amount                          on August 1,
                                                                 at the 2001 and  decree.    of information                          2005.
                                                                 2002 elections;             necessary to
                                                                 and Berks County            prevent
                                                                 failed to                   duplicate
                                                                 recruit, train,             voter
                                                                 and maintain an             registration
                                                                 adequate pool of            and enable
                                                                 Hispanic and                state election
                                                                 bilingual poll              officials to
                                                                 officials                   assess the
                                                                 despite their               eligibility of
                  Voting                                         knowledge of the            the applicant
                Section's    Voting                              needs of                    and to
                 actions    Section's                            Hispanic voters             administer
                 taken to  assessment                            with limited                voter
                 address       of                                English                     registration
                allegation allegations                           proficiency.                and other part

                                    Voting Section's    Voting
        Description based on Voting actions taken to   Section's   Disposition by
                Section information     address      assessment of Voting Section
                                       allegation     allegations
    of the election process; (3)
    distribute voter
    registration applications
    with every application for
    public assistance or
    services to persons with
    disabilities; and (4)
    transmit completed voter
    registration applications in
    a timely manner.

    Attachment IV

    Election-Related Closed Preliminary Investigation and Matters and Closed
    Cases Initiated during Calendar Year 2002

                                                          Date investigation  DJ
    No.          Preliminary            Jurisdiction   or matter          No.
             Investigation/Matter/Case                    initiated
        1                                   Hinds County,      November 2002   No
               Preliminary investigation      Mississippi
                                               Apache and
        2   Matter (election monitoring) Navajo Counties,     September 2002  Yes
                                                  Arizona
        3                                 Broward County,      November 2002  Yes
            Matter (election monitoring)          Florida
        4                                   Duval County,      November 2002  Yes
            Matter (election monitoring)          Florida
        5                         Matter          Georgia       October 2002 No d
        6                         Matter        Minnesota       October 2002  Yes
        7                         Matter       New Jersey       October 2002  Yes
        8                                   Bexar County,       October 2002  Yes
            Matter (election monitoring)            Texas
        9                         Matter  Hidalgo County,      December 2002  Yes
                                                    Texas
                                                           August 2002 (case
    10                           Case         Oklahoma filed in September  Yes
                                                                       2002)
                                                            March 2002 (case
    11                           Case            Texas     filed in March  Yes
                                                                       2002)

    Source: DOJ Civil Rights Division.

    d According to the Voting Section, this matter did not receive a DJ number
    inadvertently.

    Summary of Election-Related Closed Preliminary Investigation and Matters
    and Closed Cases Initiated during Calendar Year 2002

                                        Page 90
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                   1. The wife
                                                   of a soldier
                                                   from Hinds
                                                   County,
                                                   Mississippi,
                                                   assigned to
                                                   Guantanamo,   A Voting
                                                   Cuba, alleged Section
                                                   that her      official
                                                   husband and   discussed the
                                                   approximately allegation
                                                   50 other      with an
                                                   soldiers from official in
                                                   that county   the Federal
                                                   did not       Voting
                                                   receive their Assistance
                                                   absentee      Program
                                                   ballots in    (FVAP) under
                                                   the mail.     the
                                                   Hinds County  Department of
                                                   acknowledged  Defense       The AUSA told
                                                   receiving     (DOD), who    the soldier's
                                                   their         said that     wife that an  The Voting
                                                   requests in   someone in    investigation Section
                                                   mid-September Hinds County  revealed the  closed the
                                                   of 2002, and  told FVAP on  ballots had   preliminary
                                                   the circuit   November 20,  been lost in  investigation
                                                   clerk         2002, that    the mail. The after the
                                                   confirmed     about 20      FBI agent     AUSA
                                                   they were     ballots had   concluded     concluded,
                                                   mailed in the been sent to  that the      and the
                                                   first week of soldiers in   county        Voting
                                                   October 2002. Guantanamo.   officials had Section
                                                   The           Voting        mailed the    agreed, that
    Description                                    Mississippi   Section staff ballots to    there was no
    based on                           Disposition Secretary of  also phoned   the soldiers, basis for
    Voting                              by Voting  State's       the AUSA in   but they had  bringing
    Section                              Section   office        Jackson,      been lost or  charges
    information                                    suggested     Mississippi,  disappeared.  against
                                                   that the      and noted in  The private   anyone
                                                   soldiers fax  a memo that   company that  involved in
                                                   in federal    the AUSA had  processed     the handling
                                                   ballots but   directed a    mail for the  of the
                                                   was not sure  local Federal county told   ballots
                                                   the ballots   Bureau of     the FBI agent because the
                                                   would be      Investigation that they     ballots had
                                                   counted. That (FBI) agent   were unable   been lost in
                                                   office also   to interview  to check the  the mail and
                                                   suggested to  the chancery  zip codes of  no further
                                                   the soldier's clerk, the    mail          action was
                                                   wife that she registrar,    processed on  needed.
                                                   contact the   and all       a particular
                                                   Voting        others in the day.
                                                   Section. She  chain of
                                                   reported to   custody of
                                                   the Voting    the ballots.
                                                   Section that  The Voting
                                                   soldiers from Section also
                                                   Madison and   discussed
                                                   Rankin        asking FVAP
                                                   counties,     to monitor
                                                   also in       transit of
                                                   Mississippi,  absentee
                                                   did not       ballots to
                                                   receive their soldiers from
                                                   ballots until Hinds and
                                                   after the     Brandon
                                                   election. She Counties
                  Voting                           also
                Section's    Voting                contacted the
                 actions    Section's              Assistant
                 taken to  assessment              U.S. Attorney
                 address       of                  (AUSA) for
                allegation allegations             Hinds County.

    Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment IV Attachment
                             IV Attachment IV Attachment IV

                                        Page 91
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                2. On November
                                                                5, 2002,
                                                                federal
                                                                election
                                                                observers and
                                                                Voting Section
                                                                staff monitored
                                                                polling place
                                                                activities at
                                                                21 locations in
                                                                Apache and
                                                                Navajo
                                                                Counties,
                                                                Arizona. The
                                                                Attorney
                                                                General,
                                                                pursuant to VRA
                                                                Section 6, had
                                                                certified these
                                                                counties for
                                                                federal
                                                                observers.
                                                                Since then,
                                                                federal
                                                                observers have
                                                                documented                                   A November 22,
                                                                problems                                     2002, memo
                                                                related to the                               discussing the
                                                                counties'                                    monitoring of
                                                                inability to                                 the November
                                                                provide                                      5, 2002,
                                                                consistently                                 election
                                                                effective       In September                 indicated that
                                                                Navajo language 2002, the                    the Voting
                                                                assistance to   Voting                       Section would
                                                                voters and      Section met                  meet in the
                                                                other related   with the                     future with
                                                                circumstances   Apache County                election
                                                                affecting the   Election                     officials from
                                                                Navajo voting   Director, the The counties'  both counties
                                                                population. The Apache County implementation to discuss the
                                                                Voting Section  Deputy County of their       November 5,
                                                                was concerned   Attorney, the Navajo         2002, election
                                                                about the       Navajo County Language       and develop
                                                                following       Election      election       methods to
                                                                issues related  Director, the information    improve the
                                                                to the primary  Navajo County program was    counties'
                                                                held in         recorder, and inadequate.    provision of
                                                                September 10,   two Navajo    While the      language
                                                                2002, and the   County        counties       assistance and
                                                                general         outreach      provided       overall
                                                                election held   workers to    language       Election Day
                                                                in November 5,  discuss       assistance to  performance.
                                                                2002: (1) the   several       many voters,   The matter was
                                                    during      counties'       issues        the assistance closed after
                                                    the next    provision for   related to    was frequently the election.
                                                    election    Navajo language elections in  insufficient   According to
                                                    in          assistance, (2) the two       and failed to  the Voting
                                                    response    voters being    counties. The provide        Section, this
                                                    to the      turned away at  Voting        consistent and is standard
                                                    soldier's   the polls, (3)  Section       accurate       Voting Section
                                                    wife        crossover       provided      language       procedure when
    Description                                     January     voting, and (4) suggestions   translation of irregularities
    based on                           Disposition  2003        polls not       on how to     the offices    are observed
    Voting                              by Voting   request     opening on      prevent prior and            during
    Section                              Section    that the    time. During    problems from propositions   election
    information                                     Voting      the 2000        recurring.    on the         coverage. In
                                                    Section     election cycle  The Voting    ballot's 14    the case of
                                                    keep        and 2002        Section       propositions.  Navajo
                                                    these       primary,        observed the  The Voting     language
                                                    counties    federal         November 2002 Section        assistance in
                                                    on its      observers       election. The concluded that these
                                                    "radar      documented      original poll the counties   counties, the
                                                    screen."    several         worker        must improve   Voting Section
                                                                problems with   training      and expand     stated that
                                                                the counties'   schedules     their training such outreach
                                                                provision of    that the two  program for    has been
                                                                Navajo language counties had  interpreters.  continuous for
                                                                assistance to   provided to   The federal    many years.
                                                                voters. The     the Voting    observers      Another memo
                                                                Voting Section  Section       reported that  discussing
                                                                suggested that  allotted      the            compliance and
                                                                both counties   approximately interpreters   outreach
                                                                distribute      2 hours for   and poll       efforts since
                                                                cassette tapes  training. The workers        the 2002
                                                                containing      Voting        believed more  election
                                                                Navajo language Section       training in    indicates many
                                                                ballot          suggested     Navajo         improvements
                                                                translations to having        language       in Navajo
                                                                poll workers.   all-day       translation    language
                                                                The counties    training      was necessary. assistance
                                                                committed to    sessions, and Some poll      efforts as a
                                                                preparing and   the schedules workers told   result of this
                                                                distributing    were revised  the observers  outreach,
                                                                the tapes to    to allot 6-   that the       including: (1)
                                                                poll workers.   1/2 hours for audiotapes     improved poll
                                                                Officials from  training. The containing     worker
                                                                both counties   Voting        Navajo         training which
                                                                also informed   Section       translations   included the
                                                                the Voting      suggested     were too long  use of
                                                                Section that    that both     and confusing. pictorial flip
                                                                they would use  counties      One polling    charts to
                                                                updated flip    provide each  place was not  assist voters
                                                                charts for the  polling place well           in
                                                                November        on the Navajo organized,
                                                                election. These Reservation   resulting in
                                                                charts, which   with voter    very long
                                                                were used for   registration  lines. The
                                                                the September   lists from    Voting Section
                                                                primary at the  both          reported this
                                                                Voting          counties, and to the Navajo
                                                                Section's       train poll    County
                                                                suggestion,     workers to    Elections
                                                                displayed       check both    Director, who
                                                                pictorial       lists and     sent an
                                                                representations check with    outreach
                                                                and written     the           worker to
                                                                Navajo          appropriate   remedy the
                                                                translations of county        problem. The
                                                                each of the     election      line was
                                                                offices on the  department    moving more
                                                                primary         before        quickly by
                                                                election        turning       mid-afternoon.
                  Voting                                        ballot. There   voters away.  The number of
                Section's    Voting                             had been        Both counties voters turned
                 actions    Section's                           confusion in    agreed to     away from the
                 taken to  assessment                           previous        adopt this    polls was less
                 address       of                               elections among suggestion.   than during
                allegation allegations                          many            The Voting    the September

                                        Page 92
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                   elderly                 primary.
                                                   Navajo voters           However,
                                                   who live near           while all
                                                   the                     the polling
                                                   Navajo/Apache           places had
                                                   county line             both
                                                   about polling           counties'
                                                   place and               registration
                                                   voter                   books, poll
                                                   registration.           workers at
                                                   These voters            most
                                                   often vote in           locations                            Actions taken by
                                                   different               did not use                          DOJ staff
                                                   locations for           them. Some                           included
                                                   tribal and              did not know                         interviewing the
                                                   state/federal           the books    understanding           clerk of the     Voting Section
                                                   elections.              were         the ballot;             precinct where a staff provided
                                                   Tribal                  available.   (2) outreach            white male       assistance to
                                                   elections do            At one       and voter               precinct worker  help correct
                                                   not recognize           Apache       registration            who allegedly    issues that
                                                   county                  County       efforts on              harassed         arose during the
                                                   boundaries.   Section   location,    the                     African-American monitoring.
                                                   Poll workers  also      observers    reservation             voters was       Examples of
                                                   at polling    expressed reported     at various              employed about   issues/problems
                                                   places near   concern   that the     events; (3)   3. Voting any complaints   observed were:
                                                   the county    about     Navajo       the opening   Section   or problems with (1)
                                                   line          polling   county list  of new early  personnel the assistant    African-American
                                                   apparently    places    was not      voting        and 2     precinct clerk   voters felt      The Voting
                                                   turned away   that      present. The locations on  AUSAs     in question. DOJ somewhat         Section
                                                   dozens of     opened    Voting       the Navajo    monitored staff spoke with harassed by a    closed the
    Description                                    elderly       late for  Section      Reservation;  84        four voters at   white male       matter
    based on                           Disposition voters        the       informed the (4) the       precincts this precinct    precinct worker; because
    Voting                              by Voting  because of    September county       opening of a  in        regarding their  (2) a poll       the
    Section                              Section   voting        primary.  elections    new satellite Broward   experience       official did not election
    information                                    location      The       director,    election      County,   voting and asked want to allow a  being
                                                   confusion     counties  who showed   office on the Florida,  election         person to vote   monitored
                                                   during the    agreed to the Navajo   reservation   during    officials to     who said he had  was
                                                   2000 primary  address   County book  to            the       make chairs      requested an     completed.
                                                   and general   this      to the       disseminate   November  available for    absentee ballot
                                                   elections and prior to  polling      voter         2002      the disabled and but did not
                                                   the 2002      the       place        information   election. elderly waiting  receive it; and
                                                   primary. In   November  inspector.   and register            in line to vote. (3) persons were
                                                   2000, poll    2002      The poll     voters; and             They contacted   turned away
                                                   workers gave  election. workers had  (5) greater             county election  because of
                                                   affidavit               not removed  cooperation             officials about  precinct changes
                                                   ballots to              the book     among the               a voter who was  due to
                                                   other                   from the     counties                told he could    redistricting,
                                                   crossover               elections    providing               not vote because because they
                                                   voters in the           supply box.  Navajo                  he had already   moved, and for
                                                   mistaken                The Voting   language                sent an absentee other reasons.
                                                   belief that             Section felt assistance.             ballot; the
                                                   the ballots             that more                            precinct clerk
                                                   would be                training and                         eventually
                                                   accepted                practice                             verified that
                                                   later.                  would make                           the voter
                                                   However,                the poll
                                                   since these             workers more
                                                   voters were             familiar
                                                   not                     with this
                                                   registered in           new system.
                  Voting                           the counties            There were
                Section's    Voting                where they              no
                 actions    Section's              voted, their            complaints
                 taken to  assessment              votes were              about polls
                 address       of                  considered              not opening
                allegation allegations             invalid.                on time.

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           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                    had not
                                                    been sent
                                                    an
                                                    absentee
                                                    ballot,
                                                    and the
                                                    voter was
                                                    allowed to
                                                    cast his                               While
                                                    vote on                                monitoring
                                                    election                               the election,
                                                    day. With                              the Voting
                                                    regard to                              Section found
                                                    the                                    various areas
                                                    absentee                               of
                                                    ballot                                 clarification
                                                    issue, DOJ                             and
                                                    staff                                  improvement.
                                                    advised                                One issue
                                                    the poll               Voting Section  involved
                                                    official               attorneys       absentee
                                                    to contact             monitored the   ballots and
                                                    the                    election and    Florida law
                                                    Broward                facilitated the allowing a
                                                    County       4. At the resolution of   person who
                                                    Election       request problems that   requested an
                                                    Board. In           of arose by        absentee
                                                    addition,    Florida's communicating   ballot but    The Voting
                                                    DOJ staff:   Secretary proper election did not       Section
                                                    (1) gave a   of State, procedures to   submit it to  closed the
    Description                                     voter the          the the Supervisor  vote at the   matter
    based on                           Disposition  toll-free       Voting of Elections.   polls. There  because
    Voting                              by Voting   telephone      Section Prior to        was confusion the
    Section                              Section    number for   monitored monitoring the  when absentee election
    information                                     the Voting         the election,       ballots were  being
                                                    Section       election Voting Section  submitted but monitored
                                                    because             in attorneys met   rejected as   was
                                                    the voter     November with the        being         completed.
                                                    wanted to      2002 in Supervisor of   incomplete
                                                    complain         Duval Elections,      because they
                                                    about the      County, minority        lacked
                                                    lack of       Florida. leaders in the  voters'
                                                    voting                 community,      signatures
                                                    machines;              leaders of the  and voters
                                                    (2) asked              NAACP, and      then being
                                                    a poll                 representatives able to vote
                                                    clerk and              from the local  at the polls.
                                                    poll                   Democratic and  Voters who
                                                    workers if             Republican      submit
                                                    they had               parties. They   absentee
                                                    received               exchanged       ballots are
                                                    complaints             telephone       considered to
                                                    about not              information and have voted
                                                    having                 invited each    and cannot
                                                    enough                 person or group vote at the
                                                    voting                 to contact them polls on
                                                    machines;              with details of election day
                                                    and (3)                any problems    if the
                                                    spoke with             that they might absentee
                                                    two voters             help address.   ballot is
                  Voting                            who                    They also       rejected.
                Section's    Voting                 complained             provided        Also, poll
                 actions    Section's               about a                guidance on     workers had
                 taken to  assessment               precinct               issues that     given
                 address       of                   being hard             might arise to  incorrect
                allegation allegations              to find.               provide a       ballots to

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           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                  5. Georgia
                                                                                  state law
                                                                                  requires
                                                                                  counties to
                                                                                  have absentee
                                                                                  ballots on hand FVAP
                                                                                  45 days before  advised the
                                                                                  a general       Voting      FVAP
                                                                                  election.       Section     favored
                                                                                  Georgia missed  that a      going
                                                                                  the September   senior      forward
                                                                                  20, 2002,       official in with the
                                                                                  deadline for    Georgia's   suit that
                                                                                  the November 5, Elections   Georgia's
                                                                                  2002, general   Division    Secretary
                                                                                  election        said that   of State
                                                                                  because of the  election    had
                                                                                  compressed      officials   suggested,
                                                                                  election        in each of  but the
                                                                                  schedule in     Georgia's   Voting
                                                                                  2002. The       counties    Section
                                                                                  45-day deadline would       did not
                                                                                  was set to      photocopy   because
                                                                                  comply with     all         (1) the
                                                                                  federal         necessary   number of
                                                                                  mandates to     ballots and voters
                                                                                  make it easier  send them   affected
                                                                                  for U.S.        to every    was very
                                                                                  military        military    small,
                                                                                  personnel       and         less than
                                                                                  stationed       overseas    132
                                                                                  outside the     citizen     overseas;
                                                                                  United States   absentee    (2) UOCAVA
                                                                                  to vote.        voter from  was
                                                                                  Georgia had     whom an     amended in
                                                                                  compressed its  application 1986 to
                                                                                  2002 primary    had been    add the
                                                                                  and runoff      received in federal
                                                                                  election        time. All   write-in
                                                                                  schedules such  154 Georgia absentee
                                                                                  that the runoff counties    ballot as
                                                                                  was held only   had done    a back-up
                                                                                  49 days before  this by     ballot
                                                                  some voters.    the November 5  October 7.  when
                                                                  Voters were     general         A Voting    timely
                                                                  turned away     election. This  Section     requested
                                                                  who lacked      precluded the   attorney    ballots do
                                                                  signed photo    printing of the asked the   not reach
                                                                  identification  general         source of   voters in
                                                                  and were not    election ballot the         a timely       The
    Description                                                   allowed to      in time for the allegation  matter      Voting
    based on                           Disposition                vote by         mailing         in Catoosa  (the       Section
    Voting                              by Voting                 provisional     deadline        County to   Voting      closed
    Section                              Section                  ballot. There   required under  keep in     Section        the
    information                                                   were also a     state law.      touch and   relies on  matter.
                                                                  few instances   Georgia         gave the    the use of
                                                                  of              election        person who  the
                                                                  insensitivity   officials had   made the    back-up
                                                                  to minority     contacted FVAP  allegation  ballot as
                                                                  voters and      during the      the phone   a remedy
                                                                  voters with     first week of   number and  in UOCAVA
                                                                  disabilities.   October         Web site    lawsuits
                                                                                  regarding the   for FVAP    brought in
                                                                                  state's         for         primary
                                                                                  compliance with additional  elections,
                                                                                  the Uniformed   information and had no
                                                                                  and Overseas    about       reason to
                                                                                  Citizen         FVAP's role believe it
                                                                                  Absentee Voting in this     was an
                                                                                  Act (UOCAVA).   process.    inadequate
                                                                                  Catoosa County  The Voting  remedy);
                                                                                  ballots omitted Section     and (3)
                                                                                  the names of    attorney    the Voting
                                                                                  the Republican  contacted   Section
                                                    common                        candidate for   FVAP, and a believed
                                                    understanding                 the U.S. Senate FVAP        the
                                                    of action                     and the         official    Secretary
                                                    that should                   Republican      agreed to   of State's
                                                    be taken if a                 gubernatorial   contact     true
                                                    particular                    candidate from  officials   interest
                                                    problem                       the ballot. An  in Catoosa  in the
                                                    arose. The                    allegation was  and Ben     lawsuit
                                                    Voting                        made that this, Hill        stemmed
                                                    Section                       among other     counties to from the
                                                    attorneys                     absentee ballot get copies  large
                                                    worked with                   irregularities, of their    number of
                                                    the                           violated UOCAVA ballots and regular
                                                    Supervisor of                 because the     get back to absentee
                                                    Elections to                  correct         the Voting  ballots
                                                    improve                       ballots, even   Section     that were
                                                    election                      if sent at the  attorney.   mailed
                                                    processes and                 time this       The Voting  late, and
                                                    were invited                  concern was     Section     such
                                                    by the                        raised on       attorney    ballots
                                                    Supervisor of                 October 16,     also        could not
                                                    Elections to                  2002, would not contacted a be part of
                                                    monitor                       be received in  state       any UOCAVA
                                                    elections in                  time. Georgia's election    remedy.
                                                    April and May                 Secretary of    official.
                  Voting                            2003 to                       State asked DOJ
                Section's    Voting                 further                       to bring suit
                 actions    Section's               improve upon                  against the
                 taken to  assessment               their                         state to extend
                 address       of                   election                      the deadline
                allegation allegations              processes.                    for receipt of

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           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                                                      7. A suit
                                                                                                                      arose from
                                                                                                                      the
                                                                                                                      resignation
                                                                                                                      of Senator
                                                                                                                      Robert
                                                                                                                      Torricelli
                                                                                                                      from the
                                                                                                                      general
                                                                                                                      election
                                                                                                                      and ballot
                                                                                                                      for
                                                                                                                      Democratic
                                                                                                                      nomination
                                                                                                                      to the U.S.
                                                                                                                      Senate. The
                                                                                                                      New Jersey
                                                                                                                      Democratic
                                                                                                                      party
                                                                                                                      brought
                                                                                                                      suit to
                                                                                                                      secure a
                                                                                                                      declaration
                                                                                                                      that the
                                                                                                                      New Jersey
                                                                                                           The Voting Democratic
                                                                                                           Section    State
                                                                                                           closed the Committee   The Voting
                                                                                                           matter     was         Section                          The Voting
                                                                                                           after the  permitted   prepared a                       Section
                                                                                                           state      to select a discussion                       concluded
                                                                                       In an               Supreme    qualified   memo                             that New
                                                                                       e-mail,             Court      candidate   evaluating                       Jersey
                                                                                       the                 issued an  to replace  the impact                       state law
                                                                                       Voting              order      Sen.        that the                         provides
                                                                                       Section             addressing Torricelli. New Jersey                       for several
                                                                                       attorney            the        The New     Supreme                          methods for
                                                                                       expressed       The absentee   Jersey      Court                            UOCAVA
                                                                                       concern      Voting ballot     Supreme     ruling     The Voting Section    voters to
    Description                                                                        about       Section issue. The Court ruled would have noted that late       participate
    based on                           Disposition                                     ballots   monitored order      in favor of on         transmittal of        in federal
    Voting                              by Voting                                      being         state specified  the state   overseas   ballots to voters by  elections
    Section                              Section                                       mailed,     actions the        Democratic  absentee   airmail generally     over and
    information                                                                        filled           to procedures party and   voters.    raises concerns that  above the
                                                                                       out, and    address for        required    The Voting overseas voters would use of
                                                                                       returned       this absentee   that a new  Section    not have sufficient   regular
                                                                                       between      issue. ballots    ballot be   monitored  time to receive,      absentee
                                                                                       October             that       prepared    the New    mark, and return      ballots
                                                                                       31 and              included   under the   Jersey     their ballots to      sent by
                                                                                       November            various    direction   Democratic local election        airmail.
                                                                                       5 (6                options    of the      party      officials. The Voting The Voting
                                                                                       days).              based on   state       lawsuit    Section staff         Section
                                                                                                           whether a  Attorney    and state  determined that New   closed the
                                                                                                           voter had  General and remedies   Jersey state law      matter due
                                                                                                           or had not a state     to address contains several      to lack of
                                                                                                           already    court       this       unique features that  merit.
                                                               6. The Voting Section                       voted for  judge.      issue.     obviate the need for
                                                               conducted an                                Senator    Military               2040 days of
                                                               investigation under                         Wellstone. and                    roundtrip airmailing.
                                                               UOCAVA and monitored a                                 overseas               In addition, DOD
                                                               lawsuit in Minnesota                                   ballots                provides a backup
                                                               over absentee ballots                                  were to be             ballot available at
                                                               used in the November                                   given                  military
                                                               2002 general election.                                 precedence             installations and
                                                               At issue was the                                       and an                 U.S.
                                                               removal of Senator Paul                                explanatory            embassies/consulates.
                                                               Wellstone's name on the                                letter was             This is referred to
                                                               ballots and issuance of                                to be sent             as a federal write-in
                                                               new ballots. Senator                                   to all                 absentee ballot. The
                                                               Wellstone died 11 days                                 voters who             Voting Section noted
                                                               prior to the election,                                 received               that the question
                                                               and former Vice                                        the new                might arise regarding
                                                               President Mondale was                                  ballots.               how the state would
                                                               designated the                                         The Voting             address ballots that
                                                               replacement candidate                                  Section was            had already been
                                                               for the                                                concerned              transmitted to
                                                               Democratic-Farmer-Labor                                about the              overseas voters and
                                                               party. This party                                      late                   may have already been
                  Voting                                       argued for mass mailing                                transmittal            returned. The Voting
                Section's    Voting                military    of new absentee                                        of ballots             Section determined
                 actions    Section's              and         ballots, and the                                       to military            that this was a
                 taken to  assessment              other       Republican party argued                                and                    question for state
                 address       of                  absentee    to do the mailing based                                overseas               officials to resolve,
                allegation allegations             ballots.    on requests.                                           voters.                and that the Voting

                                        Page 96
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                           In a letter
                                                                                           dated
                                                                                           November 1,
                                                                                           2002, The
                                                                                           Voting
                                                                                           Section
                                                                                           stated that
                                                                8. An attorney             the Attorney
                                                                for Bexar                  General did
                                                                County, Texas,             not interpose
                                                                requested, in              any objection
                                                                a letter to                to the
                                                                the Voting                 specified
                                                                Section dated              changes, but
                                                                October 18,                noted that
                                                                2002,                      Section 5 of
                                                                expedited                  the Voting
                                                                review of                  Rights Act
                                                                changes in the             provides that
                                                                county's early             failure of
                                                                voting process             the Attorney
                                                                in the joint               General to
                                                                general and                object does
                                                                special                    not bar
                                                                election on                subsequent
                                                                November 5,                litigation to
                                                                2002. Changes              enjoin
                                                                included: (1)              enforcement
                                                                the one-time               of the
                                                                use of                     changes.
                                                                two-page                   After the
                                                                ballots for                League of
                                                                partisan                   United Latin
                                                                contested        The Chief American
                                                                races, (2)          of the Citizens
                                                                procedures for      Voting filed the
                                                                counting           Section lawsuit,
                                                     Section    ballots with       wrote a Bexar County
                                                     planned    straight-party letter back advised the
                                                     to raise   votes, and (3)      to the court that      The Voting
                                                     this       one-time use      attorney they               Section
    Description                                      issue      of a single      for Bexar initiated       closed the
    based on                           Disposition   when       two-sided      County. The Section 5           matter
    Voting                              by Voting    speaking   ballot for          Voting preclearance    because it
    Section                              Section     with       partisan       Section had submission         granted
    information                                      state      contested        telephone procedures on preclearance
                                                     officials  races          discussions October 18,        for the
                                                     in         supplemented          with 2002, and         changes.
                                                     October    by a separate      various October 21,
                                                     2002.      sheet with          people 2002. The
                                                                duplicate        regarding county had
                                                                voting          the ballot not obtained
                                                                instructions        format preclearance
                                                                for the            issues. from DOJ at
                                                                November 5,                the time the
                                                                2002, general              lawsuit was
                                                                election.                  filed. The
                                                                Prior to that              court agreed
                                                                request, the               with both
                                                                League of                  parties that
                                                                United Latin               the changes
                                                                American                   were required
                                                                Citizens filed             and allowed
                                                                suit in U.S.               the changes
                                                                District Court             to proceed
                                                                for the                    pending the
                                                                Western                    preclearance.
                                                                District of                On October
                                                                Texas alleging             31, 2002, the
                                                                that Bexar                 court decided
                                                                County                     to retain
                                                                implemented                jurisdiction
                                                                changes to the             over the case
                                                                conduct of the             through the
                                                                November                   conclusion of
                                                                general                    the 2002
                                                                election                   election
                                                                without                    process and
                                                                obtaining                  ordered the
                                                                preclearance               parties to
                                                                from DOJ.                  advise the
                                                                                           court as to
                  Voting                                                                   their
                Section's    Voting                                                        positions on
                 actions    Section's                                                      the case on
                 taken to  assessment                                                      or before
                 address       of                                                          December 1,
                allegation allegations                                                     2002.

                                        Page 97
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                   9. A U.S.
                                                   Representative
                                                   sent a letter to
                                                   the Attorney
                                                   General regarding
                                                   possible voter
                                                   suppression in
                                                   Alabama,
                                                   Arkansas,
                                                   Florida, Indiana,
                                                   Louisiana,
                                                   Maryland,
                                                   Michigan, New
                                                   Jersey, New
                                                   Mexico,
                                                   Pennsylvania, and                The Voting
                                                   Texas. In                        Section
                                                   Arkansas,                        determined
                                                   Louisiana, and                   that Hidalgo
                                                   Maryland, it was                 County's
                                                   alleged that                     election
                                                   African-Americans                administrator
                                                   were victims of                  handled the
                                                   voter                            situation
                                                   suppression. In                  well by
                                                   New Jersey and                   expelling the
                                                   Texas,                           poll watchers
                                                   allegations of                   when the
                                                   voter suppression A Voting       voting
                                                   involved          Section memo   supervisors
                                                   Hispanics. The    referred to an alerted the
                                                   victims of voter  allegation     election
                                                   suppression in    received from  administrator
                                                   the other states  the U.S.       that two poll
                                                   were not          Representative watchers for
                                                   specified.        regarding      the
                                                   According to the  possible       Republican
                                                   Voting Section,   intimidation   candidate
                                                   many of the       at the         were making
                                                   matters referred  November 2002  random
                                                   to in the letter  election held  challenges to
                                                   were matters      in Hidalgo     Hispanic
                                                   under the         County, Texas. voters. The
                                                   jurisdiction of   The Voting     Voting        The Voting
                                                   the Criminal      Section        Section       Section
                                                   Division and were attorney       further       closed the
                                                   being             requested      determined    matter on
                                                   investigated by   several pieces that efforts  June 25,
                                                   that Division     of             on the part   2003,
                                                   when the letter   documentation  of the        because it
                                                   was received. The from the       Republican    lacked
                                                   Voting Section    county         party did not merit. The
                                                   investigated two  elections      dampen        Voting
                                                   of the            administrator, minority      Section
                                                   allegations       including      turnout and   attorney
                                                   referred to in    newspaper      did not       observed
                                                   the letter,       articles,      discover      that there                                In the        The
                                                   including one in  letters        instances of  was a tense                  After an complaint,    consent
    Description                                    Hidalgo County,   between the    voter         atmosphere                  expedited the Voting     decree
    based on                           Disposition Texas, where it   elections      intimidation  in Hidalgo             investigation,    Section   required
    Voting                              by Voting  was alleged that  administrator  at the polls  County                    DOJ filed a    alleged  the state
    Section                              Section   the Republican    and the        on election   between                  complaint in   that the    to take
    information                                    party intimidated Republican     day. The      some of the                  the U.S.   state of corrective
                                                   Hispanic voters   elections      Voting        white                  District Court   Oklahoma actions so
                                                   countywide to     administrator, Section noted Republicans                   for the   violated   that all
                                                   dampen their      and            that minority and the
                                                   turnout at the    information    contacts in   Hispanic
                                                   general election. regarding a    the county:   citizenry.
                                                   The second        study          (1) did not   The Voting
                                                   allegation that   regarding the  think that    Section
                                                   the Voting        possibility of the           recommended
                                                   Section           13,000 dead or allegations   that this
                                                   investigated that ineligible     of dead       is an area
                                                   was referred to   voters on the  voters on the that should
                                                   in the letter was county voter   rolls         be
                                                   in New Jersey;    rolls. The     dampened      monitored
                                                   the Voting        Voting Section turnout; (2)  in future
                                                   Section opened a  attorney spoke did not       elections.
                                                   matter in 2003 to with Hispanic  believe that
                                                   investigate this  voters and     the
                                                   allegation (see   other minority challenges
                                                   information       contacts. The  made by the
                                                   provided in this  Voting Section two poll
                                                   attachment for    attorney also  watchers
                                                   2003). The most   analyzed voter caused fewer
                                                   direct form of    turnout data   Hispanic
                                                   alleged           for Hidalgo    voters to
                                                   intimidation in   County and     vote; and (3)
                                                   Hidalgo County    compared it to did not
                                                   was reported to   the state of   report
                                                   have occurred     Texas for 2002 problems of
                                                   when two poll     and previous   voter
                                                   watchers for a    elections.     intimidation
                                                   Republican                       at the polls.
                                                   candidate                        The Voting
                                                   challenged                       Section did
                                                   Hispanic voters                  not find
                                                   at early voting                  apparent
                                                   on the basis that                differences
                                                   a study indicated                between the
                                                   that 13,000 dead                 voter turnout
                                                   or ineligible                    data in the
                                                   voters were in                   2002 election
                                                   the county's                     compared to
                                                   voter                            other
                                                   registration                     elections.
                                                   rolls. The
                                                   Republican party
                                                   held a press                                               10. As
                                                   conference two                                             described
                                                   weeks before the                                           in DOJ's
                                                   election where                                             complaint,
                                                   party                                                      DOJ
                                                   representatives                                            alleged
                                                   alleged that                                               that the
                                                   voter fraud could                                          state of
                  Voting                           be a significant                                           Oklahoma
                Section's    Voting                problem with the                                           was not in
                 actions    Section's              number of people                                           compliance
                 taken to  assessment              listed                                                     with
                 address       of                  incorrectly on                                             UOCAVA.
                allegation allegations             the voter rolls.                                           Election

                                        Page 98
           GAO-04-1041R DOJ Activities to Address Past Voting Irregularities
                                                                                                                                     The court
                                                                                                                                     entered a
                                                                                                                                     temporary
                                                                                                                                     restraining
                                                                                                                                     order and
                                                                                                                                     preliminary
                                                                                                                                     injunction
                                                                                                                                     on March
                                                                                                                                     25, 2002,
                                                                                                                                     permitting
                                                                                                                                     qualified
                                                                                                                                     Texas
                                                                                                                                     voters to
                                                                                                                                     use federal
                                                                                              11. As                                 write-in
                                                                                              described in                           absentee
                                                                                              DOJ's                                  ballots for
                                                                                              complaint,                             the April
                                                                                              DOJ alleged                            9, 2002,
                                                                                              that as a                              election.
                                                                                              result of                              According
                                                                                              the                                    to the
                                                   officials in                               compressed                             terms of
                                                   Oklahoma                                   period of                              the court
                                                   could not                      uniformed   time between                           order, the
                                                   mail                           military    the Texas                              state was
                                                   absentee                       personnel   primary and                            required to
                                                   ballots to                     and         runoff                                 take
                                                   military and                   citizens    elections,                             actions to
                                                   civilian     Western           living      election     After an                  remedy
                                                   overseas     District          overseas    officials in expedited                 absentee
                                                   voters on a  of                who filed a the state of investigation,            ballot
                                                   date         Oklahoma          timely      Texas failed DOJ filed a               issues in
                                                   sufficiently on                request to  to mail      complaint and      In the the future.
                                                   in advance   September         receive an  absentee     motion for a   complaint, This
    Description                                    of the       12, 2002,         absentee    ballots to   temporary      the Voting included
    based on                           Disposition September    and               ballot are  military and restraining       Section permitting
    Voting                              by Voting  17, 2002,    entered   UOCAVA. given the   civilian     order and         alleged voters to
    Section                              Section   primary      into a            opportunity overseas     preliminary      that the submit
    information                                    runoff       consent           to vote.    voters on a  injunction in    state of write-in
                                                   election to  decree            The state   date         the U.S.            Texas ballots if
                                                   allow voters with the          did so      sufficiently District Court   violated their
                                                   to receive   state of          through,    in advance   for the           UOCAVA. ballots are
                                                   the ballot,  Oklahoma          among other of the April Western                   not sent to
                                                   cast a vote, on                things, the 9, 2002,     District of               them in
                                                   and return   September         passage of  federal      Texas on March            time and
                                                   the ballot   17, 2002.         UOCAVA      primary      22, 2002.                 counting
                                                   to election                    compliance  runoff                                 the
                                                   officials by                   legislation election to                            write-in
                                                   the deadline                   in May      allow such                             ballots as
                                                   established                    2003.       voters to                              valid as
                                                   by state                                   receive the                            long as the
                                                   law.                                       ballot, cast                           voters
                                                                                              a vote, and                            living
                                                                                              return the                             outside the
                                                                                              ballot to                              United
                                                                                              election                               States are
                                                                                              officials by                           qualified
                                                                                              the deadline                           to vote in
                                                                                              established                            Texas. A
                                                                                              by state                               stipulation
                                                                                              law.                                   of
                                                                                                                                     dismissal
                                                                                                                                     was entered
                                                                                                                                     in February
                                                                                                                                     2004
                                                                                                                                     following
                                                                                                                                     passage by
                                                                                                                                     the state
                                                                                                                                     legislature
                  Voting                                                                                                             of
                Section's    Voting                                                                                                  legislation
                 actions    Section's                                                                                                remedying
                 taken to  assessment                                                                                                the United
                 address       of                                                                                                    States'
                allegation allegations                                                                                               complaint.

    Attachment IV

    Election-Related Closed Matter Initiated during Calendar Year 2003

         No.      Matter      Jurisdiction   Date matter initiated         DJ No.
          1          Matter       New Jersey              January 2003        Yes

    Source: DOJ Civil Rights Division.

    Summary of Election-Related Closed Matter Initiated during Calendar Year
    2003

          Description based on Voting Section's                     Disposition
                Voting Section actions taken to   Voting Section's  by Voting
                   information address             assessment of    Section
                               allegation           allegations
    1. This matter was the
    second matter opened by
    the Voting Section in
    response to the
    November 2002 letter
    from a U.S.                               The people that
    Representative referred                   the Voting Section
    to in the previously                      attorney contacted
    described 2002 matter                     were not aware of
    for Hidalgo County,     The Voting        the e-mail or any
    Texas. There were       Section attorney  other threats or
    allegations of voter    contacted a       intimidation
    intimidation in New     Latino political  tactics against
    Jersey. According to a  activist in the   Latino voters. The
    newspaper article,      New York          Voting Section
    emails were sent to     metropolitan      noted that its     The Voting
    Latino lawyers urging   area, the         investigation      Section
    them to engage in an    Treasurer of the  yielded results    closed the
    aggressive campaign to  New Jersey        similar to the     matter
    ensure ballot fairness. Hispanic Bar      judge's            because it
    Attorneys for both the  Foundation, and a findings-that the  lacked merit.
    Democratic and          community         ballot fairness
    Republican National     activist and      plan mentioned in
    Committees presented    attorney based in the e-mail did not
    their case before the   Newark, New       raise concerns
    U.S. district court.    Jersey.           about Latino voter
    The judge ruled a few                     intimidation
    days before the                           during the
    November 2002 election                    November 2002
    that there was "nothing                   general election.
    sinister" in the
    Republican ballot
    fairness plan and
    characterized the plan
    as legitimate campaign
    activity.

    Attachment V

     Comments from the Department of Justice Attachment V Attachment V Attachment V
                         Attachment V Attachment V Attachment V

                                        (440350)
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