[EL] how does election observing work at polling places?

[John Tanner]

Brian,

The shift to minority language enforcement has been going on for some
time.  I know that I ran out of potential Section 2 cases in AL and MS in
1993, as I recall -- everyone else had already been sued.  There was a
shift from section 2 suits in the South to suits in Latino and Native
American areas.  As those thinned out, there was a shift to section 203/4e
enforcement -- essentially blocking what are in effect literacy tests for
non-English speaking citizens (whose numbers are legion).  These now
dominate DOJ's VRA enforcement.  By my count, 28 of the 44 VRA cases
2001-2008 were language cases, as have been 7 of the 8 VRA cases DOJ has
filed in the Obama administration. (the cases are listed on the Voting
Section web site)  The language cases have also addresses outrageous abuse
of Latino and Asian voters at the polls and include appropriate relief
(minority poll officials, etc.  The consent decrees and other orders also
are on the Voting Section web site)

This is a long introduction to your question about observers who can enter
the polls and serve as witnesses to whatever occurs.  DOJ can
designate section 5 counties and send observers there.  In other areas,
they send monitors (who may or may not be able to enter the polling
places).  Basically, DOJ monitors gather information to support section 203
(or 4e or 4f4 or 208 or 2 cases).  After lawsuits and successful judgments
include section 3 relief, the observers monitor compliance.  A good bit of
the Southern coverage now is directed to protecting language minorities
rather than black citizens.  Actually, a good bit of the drop in coverage
numbers (approx 1090 personnel in 2004, c. 780 in 2012) has reflected the
expiration of section 3 relief in language cases.

The key to determining where DOJ assigns people in election day is (or
should be) the tricky business of identifying specific polling places in
which someone is likely to see and document abuse of a minority voter:
election coverage costs a good bit of money and, as you can imagine, takes
up a lot of the section's energy.  But if done well, it also generates
lawsuits and remarkable increases in bilingual poll workers and large
minority voter registration  There also is an element of deterrence, but
I'm not entirely sold on that.

The limitation on DOJ to send observrs only to Section 5
jurisdictions handicaps enforcement a good bit.
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