Feds coming to Alamance County, NC to monitor elections - I LOVE it!1 of 59 jurisdictions in country

[1Hippiechick]

Alamance County has the biggest, redneck Director of Elections probably in the entire country. I reported a problem with voting machine setup during the primaries, and she tried to blow me off. Wrong sister to try to blow off - I took it to the state level and was responded to on numerous occasions, copied to several ppl in state government, along with attachments of scanned poll set-ups, directing Mizz Holland to review those set-ups. If you take the time to read this article where Feds were present in earlier elections, you will note that Miss Holland misrepresents their findings. Oh yeah...going on a letter-writing campaign here to clean up the local board of elections. Oh yeah...count on it.

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/tuesday_19320___article.html/alamance_county.html


Federal election monitors will be in Alamance County Tuesday
Comments 11 | Recommend 1
October 31, 2008 - 5:23PM
Keren Rivas / Times-News
Who to call

To report election fraud or voting rights abuses (i.e. intimidation, suppression, etc.):

- U.S. Middle District of North Carolina - Attorneys Robert M. Hamilton and John W. Stone Jr. can be reached at 333-5351 or 332-6314.

- Federal Bureau of Investigations - 855-7770

To report ballot access problems or discrimination:

- Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division - 1-800-253-3931 or 202-307-2767. Complaints can also be submitted online by going to the Department's Web site www.usdoj.gov/.

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Alamance County is among 59 jurisdictions that federal authorities will be monitoring on Election Day to ensure equal access to the polls.



The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division will be sending more than 800 federal observers and department personnel to monitor polling places in 23 states, the Department announced Thursday.

According to a press release, these observers will be gathering information about whether voters are treated differently due to a disability or based on their race, color or membership in a minority group. Observers will also be looking at whether the jurisdictions in question are complying with the minority language provisions part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Alamance County is the only North Carolina jurisdiction that will be monitored.

Scot Montrey, with the Department's Civil Rights Division, said Friday he could not comment on why the county was selected or how many observers will be visiting local polling stations. He said that the whole purpose of the observers is to take note of the process without interfering with it.

"Part of their mission is to keep a low profile," he added.

According to the Voting Rights Act, monitoring is done when there are concerns about racial discrimination in the voting process or to ensure compliance with bilingual election procedures. Some of the observers speak Spanish and a variety of Asian and Native American languages, according to the release.

This is not the first time the Department of Justice has monitored elections in Alamance County.

Kathy Holland, director of the Alamance County Board of Elections, said observers were present during the 2004 general elections as well.

That's the year Sheriff Terry Johnson's said he wanted to crack down on voter fraud after asking Immigration and Custom Enforcement to run a "sample list" of Hispanics registered to vote that County Attorney David Smith had obtained from the local board of elections.

Johnson then reported to the county commissioners that of 125 registered Hispanic voters, 38 were in the country legally. The rest, he said, were either born in the United States, gave false names, or were illegal aliens.

Holland said the observers did not report any problems in that occasion.

However, a 2006 report commissioned by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund found that there were "numerous problems" documented during the 2004 general election regarding Hispanic voter intimidation in Alamance County. These included the exclusion of voters' names from the rolls of precincts where they had properly registered.

Holland said she didn't recall the report. She said she couldn't tell the reasons for the observers' presence in the county this time around but added that they are charged with ensuring that voter rights are looked after.

In addition to the monitoring, Alamance County residents will have several ways of reporting possible voter intimidation or voter fraud if these instances were to occur on Nov. 4.

As part of a nationwide program, the U.S. Middle District of North Carolina has assigned two federal prosecutors to take complaints of this nature while the polls are open on Election Day. The FBI will also have agents available in its field offices to receive allegations of election fraud, intimidations and other abuses.

"Election fraud and voting rights abuses dilute the worth of votes honestly cast," said U.S. Attorney Anna Mills Wagoner in a press release. "They also corrupt the essence of our representative form of government."

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. GOOD!!!!!!!!! nt

[mmonk]

2. That's fine if their real purpose is prevent and not intimidate

Hispanic voters. Do I fully trust the DOJ under bush? Hard question on such matters.

[democracy1st]

3. Wow so David Iglesias is already in charge of the Justice Dept...LOL

[ladyVet]

4. Sounds like we need a new director of the BOE.

I live in Alamance County, and while I've not seen any problems, it doesn't surprise me really. This county has mostly been run by Repukes, and they are quite the good ol' boys. A few years back, they wanted to name our county court building after Ronnie Raygun, even though long tradition held that buildings only be named after local people who have been significant historically.

[1Hippiechick]

5. Where in Alamance County? I live in Burlington! n/t