The US agency charged with investigating civil rights violations will examine whether minority voters were intimidated from casting ballots in the controversial presidential election in Florida.
The US Civil Rights Commission said in a statement Sunday that it "will examine allegations of voter intimidation and other voting rights improprieties" in the US presidential election, one day after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced a lawsuit on the matter.
On Saturday, the NAACP alleged that "widespread irregularities" in the November 7 presidential election in Florida denied African American, Jewish and immigrant voters the right to vote.
The civil rights group said in a statement that "voter intimidation, voter eligibility discrepancies and illegal tactics" had taken place before and during the balloting.
"By noon on Election Day, long before we had any idea how the election would turn out, we had over 80 complaints," NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said at a press conference broadcast on C-SPAN television.
In all, the NAACP received more than 486 documented complaints alleging irregularities, including relocating polling places without notice and refusing to allow registered voters to cast ballots.
The association charged that the complaints "point toward the massive, systematic exclusion of black, Jewish and immigrant voters." The group said it would file its lawsuit in the coming week.
The US Commission on Civil Rights said in its statement Sunday that it would decide at its regular monthly meeting here Friday "what, if any, action to take in response" to the suit -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
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