Justice Dept. sending monitors to Philadelphia for primary balloting

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Federal officials have dispatched election monitors to Philadelphia to protect the voting rights of Spanish-speaking voters in the hotly contested Pennsylvania Democratic primary, following problems in the 2006 elections.

The Justice Department announcement Monday that federal observers will keep an eye on specified Philadelphia polling locations comes one year after the city signed an agreement with federal civil rights attorneys to provide the Spanish-language materials and voting assistance required by the Voting Rights Act and other federal laws.

Complaints about past discriminatory voting practices led the Justice Department to file complaints against Philadelphia in October 2006 and April 2007.

–From Terry Frieden, CNN Justice Producer