Fed poll observers will be sharply reduced on Election Day

WASHINGTON — Fo r t h e first time since the days of poll taxes and literacy tests a half-century ago, the Just i c e Depar t ment wi l l b e sharply restricted in how it can deploy some of its most powerful weapons to deter voter intimidation in the presidential election.

B e c aus e of a Supreme Cour t r ul i ng t hree ye ar s ago, the department will send special election observers inside polling places in parts of only four states on Election Day, a significant drop from 2012, when it sent observers to jurisdictions in 13 states.

And in a departure from a decades-old practice, observ- ers will be sent to only one state in the South, where a history of discriminatory voting practices once made six states subject to special federal scrutiny.

The pullback worries civil rights advocates, who say that Donald Trump’s call for his supporters to monitor a “rigged” electoral system could lead to intimida- tion of minorit y voters at polling places.

Since 1965, federal officials have sent about 32,000 observers to jurisdictions with histories of harassing minority voters or even outright denying them access to the ballot.

B u t o f f i c i a l s s ay t h e i r hands are now tied by a 2013 Supreme Court decision that gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

As a result of that decision, in Shelby Count y v. Holder, the Justice Department will send observers only to jurisdictions where it already has court approval. That encompasses seven counties or jurisdictions in Alaska, California, Louisiana and New York.

“We do not want to be in the position we’re in,” Vanita Gupta, the top civil rights official at the Justice Department, said in an interview. “There’s no doubt that we’re going to be spread thinner,” she added, “but our hope and our intention is that we are going to have a very robust monitoring program” on Election Day.