“The Justice Department announced today that it will monitor compliance with federal voting rights laws in Maricopa County, Arizona, for the July 30 primary election. The Justice Department enforces the federal voting rights laws that protect the rights of all citizens to access the ballot. The department regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities all across the country. In addition, the division also deploys federal observers from the Office of Personnel Management, where authorized by federal court order.”
“The Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section, working with US Attorneys’ Offices, enforces the civil provisions of federal statutes that protect the right to vote, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Civil Rights Act and Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act,” says a Justice Department press release posted on Monday.
Why they would need to have wingtips on the ground on a primary day is not clear. Arizona is more or less America’s election denial capital (if only by a hair over Georgia and Michigan) but Kari Lake’s pretty much a lock for the Senate nomination. Maybe this is simply the DOJ’s dry run for monitoring in November, when the MAGA freaks will be “monitoring” the polls themselves en masse?