The federal monitors will be deployed to try to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws, the Justice Department said in a news release Monday. The monitoring arises from an April 2007 agreement with the city that settled allegations Philadelphia had violated the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act, the statement said.

A Civil Rights Division attorney will coordinate the monitoring and maintain contact with local election officials, the Justice Department said. Among other requirements, the city is obligated to provide all election information, ballots and voting assistance information in Spanish.

Such monitoring is fairly common, the department noted, with more than 1,500 observers and other personnel watching 119 elections in 24 states in 2006.