Election observers coming to Washoe, Mineral counties

RENO — Nevada is one of 28 states the Justice Department is sending federal election observers to monitor the polls on Election Day.

The Justice Department announced Monday that 500 staffers are being dispatched to 67 jurisdictions — including Washoe and Mineral counties — to watch for potential civil rights violations, such as discrimination on the basis of race, religion or gender.

The department didn’t specify why Nevada’s counties were selected. But both were targets of a recent federal lawsuit filed by the Pyramid Lake and Walker River Paiute tribes over equal access to the polls.