ASHINGTON - The Justice Department has sent representatives to Florida to gather information about alleged voting irregularities, a spokeswoman said yesterday.
The department has received complaints that blacks and other minorities were impeded by voting officials when they tried to cast ballots in several Florida locations.
''We have two people in Florida, but this is still part of our inquiry to gather information to see what, if any, federal investigation is warranted,'' Justice Department spokeswoman Kara Peterman said yesterday.
The NAACP says it has gathered 486 complaints and taken more than 300 pages of sworn testimony from people who say they were blocked from voting. The organization plans to file a lawsuit early this week alleging voter intimidation and other violations of voting rights.
The Justice Department has authority to bring criminal prosecutions against anyone who denies someone's right to vote. The department also can bring civil lawsuits in some circumstances to alter racially discriminatory voting procedures in the future. But it has no authority for any action that might change voting totals from the Nov. 7 election.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, claiming ''a clear pattern of voter suppression of African-American votes,'' wants the Justice Department to begin a formal investigation in Florida.
''African-Americans were targeted to be disenfranchised,'' he said yesterday at a news conference in Tallahassee, Fla.
Jackson said a protest organized by civil rights groups and the AFL-CIO is planned for Wednesday outside the Florida State House in Tallahassee.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that its computer analysis found the more black and Democratic a precinct, the more likely a high number of presidential votes were not counted.
About 2.9 percent of Florida's presidential ballots, roughly 180,000, were not counted because no candidate was chosen, two candidates were picked, or a ballot was not clearly marked. Traditionally, 2 percent of ballots cast nationwide do not record a presidential vote.
In Miami-Dade, the state's most populous county, roughly 3 percent of ballots were excluded from the presidential tally. But in precincts with a black population of 70 percent or more, about 10 percent were not counted.
Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore have been fighting for Florida's 25 electoral votes for nearly four weeks. Gore claims some of the uncounted votes should not have been thrown out and is pushing for hand recounts to try to overcome Bush's 537-vote lead.
