Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said that Justice Department officials have been unenthusiastic about pursuing numerous complaints about voter intimidation in black communities. Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, expressed his concern to Reno in a Wednesday meeting.
"We are disappointed that the civil rights division of the DOJ is not being more enthusiastic about tracking these complaints down," he said. "There is a problem with the unreported lack of consideration being shown by the Justice Department toward the wholesale problems with voting in the black community that took place in Florida."
Conyers and other black leaders, including the NAACP, have made allegations that include: polling places moved without notice; polls closing early; no translators for Hispanic and Haitian voters; inadequate training of poll workers; disproportionate exclusion of allegedly faulty ballots in black-majority counties; and intimidation of voters in Broward and Hillsboro counties.
In addition, Conyers and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus received allegations of even more blatant forms of intimidation in Florida's black community that include roadblocks near polling stations to check for licenses and state troopers subjecting blacks to interrogations about felony records at polling stations.
"At noon on Election Day I started getting calls from Florida complaining about these tactics," said Rep. John Clyburn, D-S.C., head of the CBC. "There have been allegations of state troopers setting up license checkpoints near polling places in Jacksonville."
The Justice Department has been flooded with complaints of alleged voting irregularities in Florida and elsewhere, but has not announced any probe of the complaints.
Rep. Peter Deutsch, D-Fla., and other Democratic members of Congress have specifically complained about what they feel is "intimidation" of the Miami-Dade canvassing board by a crowd of protesters that reportedly included staff members of Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas. DeLay is the House majority whip.
The canvassing board, after first saying it would conduct a hand recount that might have benefited Vice President Al Gore, reversed its decision after the protesters conducted a noisy, shoving demonstration inside the local government building near where the board was meeting.
The head of the board has said publicly, however, that its members did not change their decision because of the protesters or any intimidation, but because they did not believe a hand count could be completed before last Sunday's deadline.
Deutsch represents part of the Miami-Dade County area, the state's largest population area, and has said he believes the "intimidation" section of the Voting Rights Act could underpin a court order that would force a hand count of Miami-Dade ballots skipped over in a machine count. The alleged "intimidation" also forms part of the basis for Gore's legal challenge in the Florida courts to force a hand count.
Deutsch met Monday with Assistant Attorney General Bill Lann Lee, chief of the Justice Department's civil rights division.
At her Thursday news conference, Reno refused to address Deutsch's complaint, or any other complaint, directly.
She promised the department would "look at anything that people bring us to see if there is a basis for federal jurisdiction," but the department would take pains "that we don't do anything that … would be described as partisan."
Pressed later about her "thoughts" on the continuing election controversy, Reno said, "The attorney general should stay out of partisan politics. I have done that and will continue to do that."
She also urged patience and rejected suggestions from partisans that the election is being "stolen" by either the Gore campaign or that of Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
"There is a [legal] process in place that is being worked through now," Reno said. She acknowledged that protesters are exercising their "free speech" rights in complaining, "but it is important for the process to run its course."
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