The U.S. Justice Department will send a watchdog to San Juan County on Tuesday to monitor polls in the rural southeast corner of Utah as it holds its first election under new boundaries meant to realign political influence to those in the majority population there: American Indians.
The announcement comes after months of tensions leading up to Election Day in the county, including accusations that the clerk’s office has purposely ignored the court-ordered redistricting, that hundreds of residents have received incorrect ballots and that a Navajo and Democratic candidate wasn’t qualified to run for an open commission seat.