Monitors on prowl for election abuses

Sun-Sentinel ^ | October 30, 2004 | Cadence Mertz

[Former Military Chick]

Elections monitors of every stripe are as much a fact of this election as Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards signs -- and almost as ubiquitous.

A sampling of who is headed to South Florida shows poll watchers representing groups ranging from the U.S. Justice Department, Global Exchange in San Francisco, and, of course, the Democratic and Republican parties, are amassing in advance of Election Day. They'll be in Palm Beach County by the hundreds or thousands.

To many voters, frustrated by the long lines at early voting stations, who these people are and why they're there was a source of confusion as balloting got under way this month.

"It was inappropriate," West Boynton Beach resident Nancy Zuccarello said of the way one party monitor worked the room while she waited in line for early voting. "It upset me because I had no way of knowing what she was doing."

Non-partisan groups say they will be at the polls to keep an eye on just that kind of behavior and to help voters navigate through a sometimes-confusing balloting system.

Groups such as Election Protection, a coalition spearheaded by the People for the American Way Foundation, will be the ones outside the polls; only registered elections monitors representing the parties and candidates are supposed to be inside.

Election Protection -- uniting groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Rock the Vote, the National Council of La Raza, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the United Church of Christ -- were formed after the election fiasco four years ago.

"In 2000 we didn't exist. This whole operation is a product of what happened in 2000," said Reginald Mitchell, state legal director for the People for the American Way Foundation.

[Former Military Chick]

I do have a worry, if we see questionable voters and we call them on it .. who is to say it is a democrat faking to show some side of bias by the republicans.

It is just a thought but we are talking about democrats.

[Lobbyist]

Foreign election monitors like Global Exchange are not worth the time fretting over.

The only group of monitors we have to concern ourselves with is the OSCE and the OSCE PA. The OSCE PA's president is the impeached federal judge Rep. Alcee Hastings.

[followerofchrist]

I saw a news report on this a few weeks ago. The anchor didn't even blink, or expose Global Exchange as a leftist Heinz-funded organization. Teresa's fund gave then $10,000 a few years back. How can they get away with this?

[NEPA]

I just got in from an election worker meeting a little while ago. During the meeting the subject of poll watchers and challenges came up. I was a bit surpised because this a very rural county (Wayne Cty, PA) and I never heard of it locally but apparently this year there's been a lot of talk of it.

Although rural the Pocono area has seen a huge influx of NJ, NY, and Philly people in recent years and they are changing the electorate.

One thing that really caught my ear was the big increase in absentee voting. At first I figured it was people who didn't want to bother standing in line and the elderly. But when the election official gave the names of the townships which were unusually heavy with absentees I realized those are the areas where the most weekend and vacation homes are. I think there's a lot of people voting in person in one place (mostly NJ) and voting absentee in Wayne County.

And there's no way to challenge them.