Justice Department to monitor Tuesday’s primaries

The U.S. Justice Department announced today that it will monitor tomorrow’s 1st Congressional District primary voting.

The primaries will be the first major elections in South Carolina since the state’s new Voter ID law took effect — a law challenged in court by the justice department.

The monitoring will examine the elections’ compliance with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Federal observers will be assigned to polling places in Dorchester County based on the U.S. Attorney General’s certification, and Justice Department personnel also will observe polling places in Beaufort, Berkeley, and Charleston counties.

The 1st congressional district covers a portion of all those counties, plus a small slice of Colleton County.

On Tuesday, voters are asked to bring one of five types of photo IDs to the polls: a state driver’s license, a DOT-issued photo ID, a new voter registration card with a photo, a U.S. Passport for a federal military ID. Those with only an old voter registration card withouth a photo still may vote if they sign a paper saying why they do not have a photo ID.

The Justice Department also will monitor Tuesday’s elections in Port Chester, N.Y., which is required to provide assistance in Spanish.

To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931.

Read more in tomorrow’s Post and Courier.