US Election Monitors

NousDefionsDoc · 08-09-2004, 09:10

I am NOT Happy!

International team to monitor presidential election
Observers will be part of OSCE's human rights office
From David de Sola
CNN / August 8, 2004

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A team of international observers will monitor the presidential election in November, according to the U.S. State Department.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was invited to monitor the election by the State Department. The observers will come from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

It will be the first time such a team has been present for a U.S. presidential election.

"The U.S. is obliged to invite us, as all OSCE countries should," spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said. "It's not legally binding, but it's a political commitment. They signed a document 10 years ago to ask OSCE to observe elections."

Thirteen Democratic members of the House of Representatives, raising the specter of possible civil rights violations that they said took place in Florida and elsewhere in the 2000 election, wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July, asking him to send observers.

After Annan rejected their request, saying the administration must make the application, the Democrats asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to do so.

The issue was hotly debated in the House, and Republicans got an amendment to a foreign aid bill that barred federal funds from being used for the United Nations to monitor U.S. elections, The Associated Press reported.

In a letter dated July 30 and released last week, Assistant Secretary of State Paul Kelly told the Democrats about the invitation to OSCE, without mentioning the U.N. issue.

"I am pleased that Secretary Powell is as committed as I am to a fair and democratic process," said Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who spearheaded the effort to get U.N. observers.

"The presence of monitors will assure Americans that America cares about their votes and it cares about its standing in the world," she said in a news release.

Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California agreed.

"This represents a step in the right direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are fair and transparent," she said.

"I am pleased that the State Department responded by acting on this need for international monitors. We sincerely hope that the presence of the monitors will make certain that every person's voice is heard, every person's vote is counted."

OSCE, the world's largest regional security organization, will send a preliminary mission to Washington in September to assess the size, scope, logistics and cost of the mission, Gunnarsdottir said.

The organization, which counts among its missions conflict prevention and postconflict rehabilitation, will then determine how many observers are required and where in the United States they will be sent.

"OSCE-participating [nations] agreed in 1990 to observe elections in one another's countries. The OSCE routinely monitors elections within its 55-state membership, including Europe, Eurasia, Canada and the United States," a State Department spokesman said.

The spokesman said the United States does not have any details on the size and composition of the observers or what countries will provide them.

OSCE, based in Vienna, Austria, has sent more than 10,000 personnel to monitor more than 150 elections and referenda in more than 30 countries during the past decade, Gunnarsdottir said.

In November 2002, OSCE sent 10 observers on a weeklong mission to monitor the U.S. midterm elections. OSCE also sent observers to monitor the California gubernatorial recall election last year.

More recently, OSCE monitored the elections in Northern Ireland in November and in Spain in March.

**Jack Moroney (RIP)** · 08-09-2004, 09:44

So there I was, kicked back under the covers listening to the coyotes singing up on the hill behind the cottage when all of a sudden my wife sat straight up in bed and, for someone who wouldn't say shit if she had a mouthful, laid down a blue streak of expletives that would have made Jay Graves blush. Not knowing exactly what was going on I sort of feigned sleep thinking that she had just discovered something stupid I had done, but no-she had her headphones on and had picked up this announcement from the Drudge Report. So, NDD, you are not the only one that is not happy about this crock of crap.

Jack Moroney

**The Reaper** · 08-09-2004, 09:46

When an elected Representative from Texas asks the Euros to come monitor a US election, this country is going to hell in a handbasket.

Wonder if they would come monitor her re-election campaign?

To paraphrase a movie quote, this country needs an enema, and soon.

TR

**Razor** · 08-09-2004, 10:10

While I agree this is a crock, I wonder if this observation team will note one party's almost inevitable use of dead and convicted 'voters', as they have done so often in the past.

NousDefionsDoc · 08-09-2004, 10:12

Quote:

Originally posted by Razor
While I agree this is a crock, I wonder if this observation team will note one party's almost inevitable use of dead and convicted 'voters', as they have done so often in the past.

I also wonder what they will have to say about keeping Nader off the ballot.

I still hate them.

08-09-2004, 10:29

Petition has been started to censure the 13 Dems that started this.

http://www.conservativepetitions.com...ons.php?id=278

**The Reaper** · 08-09-2004, 10:31

Quote:

Originally posted by Razor
While I agree this is a crock, I wonder if this observation team will note one party's almost inevitable use of dead and convicted 'voters', as they have done so often in the past.

I thought the same thing. Much more likely to bite them than the Repubs. She and her cronies watched too much network TV.

If the observers are impartial, and render an unbiased report, the Dems may not invite them back again.

TR

08-09-2004, 10:48

I looked this up earlier. I thought this violated the FL Election Laws.

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/publ...ectionLaws.pdf

Page 47 - Watchers at Polls.

"Each watcher shall be a qualified and registered elector of the county in which he or she serves".

NousDefionsDoc · 08-09-2004, 11:23

Probably violates other state's as well

Solid · 08-09-2004, 11:28

If Bush is elected and the committee proclaims it fair, though, it could be beneficial, right? No more Micheal Moore spiel on how Bush used his conspriacy links to get into office, etcetera.

Solid

NousDefionsDoc · 08-09-2004, 11:36

Could be, but that ain't the point. Elections need to be monitored because of vast corruption or intimidation. The implication here is that we, one of the principle holders of the ideals of democracy, cannot police our own house. And it is just a short jump to handing over control like a lot of Europe has done. This is a subtle way of admitting that the 2000 elections were a fraud and Bush should have never been in office.

As far as I'm concerned, the EU and UN can do whatever they want, and so can we.

There are people in our country that would be more than happy to have the US join the EU or have all our troops unionized and wearing blue helmets.

The Europhiles had better watch out. Europe is a separate entity with it's own issues and needs. We need to follow our own path.

This crap has Jimmy Carter written all over it. Want to bet there's a "compromise" reached?

Bravo1-3 · 08-09-2004, 13:25

Simply put, there are no "impartial" Europeans. If Bush winns with 99% of the vote, and only one of those votes is questionable, they will take him to task on it. On the other hand, if Kerry wins by emptying out cemetaries, it will be "a few isolated incidents that have no cummulative bearing on the overall election process or its results."

Gypsy · 08-09-2004, 17:29

This is utterly disgusting and repugnant to me.

Bravo 1-3 you have the lingo down pat...

Ghostrider · 08-13-2004, 10:52

Absolutely disgusted and pissed off. There has to be something that can be done to prevent this travesty.

Bravo1-3 · 08-13-2004, 11:57

Here in Washington State, and Down in Oregon, I'd say around October-ish, there will be legal challenges in both states courts to allowing this to happen (if it happens at all).

In both states, it is illegal for foreign agents to even be in the same room as the ballots, ballot boxes, counting areas, or even the voters, unless they are registered voters in their respective states. I know that we're not the only states where this is so.

IF this happens, they will be limited to watching the polling places being set up before the ballots arrive.

Any kind of "supervision" they can provide would be in the form or standing around the Secretary of States Office. I'm even against that... even though out here it will be the dems doing the vote rigging.