WREG.com

DOJ to monitor polling places in Shelby County

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Department of Justice will be monitoring polling places in Shelby County on Election Day.

According to a release, the agency wants to ensure all locations are in compliance with the Voting Rights Act and other voting rights statutes.

The Voting Rights Act makes it illegal to discriminate during the election process based on race, color or ethnicity.

Sources reported Tennessee is only one of 28 states the DOJ is deploying personnel to on Election Day.

“As always, our personnel will perform these duties impartially, with one goal in mind: to see to it that every eligible voter can participate in our elections to the full extent that federal law provides,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement. “The department is deeply committed to the fair and unbiased application of our voting rights laws and we will work tirelessly to ensure that every eligible person that wants to do so is able to cast a ballot.”

During the 2012 election, the DOJ sent 780 monitors to 23 states.

The department is deploying monitors to the following 67 jurisdictions:

35.149534-90.04898