Posted on 08/07/2004 1:36:44 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON When 13 Democratic members of the U.S. Congress asked United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send election monitors to the U.S. this fall, the move outraged many Republicans and other proponents of national sovereignty.
When those same 13 Democratic members of Congress were turned down by Annan, they took their request to Secretary of State Colin Powell again to the shock of many Republicans and those who warn about foreign entanglements.
Yesterday, those 13 Democratic House members got their surprising answer from the State Department the administration will indeed invite foreign election monitors to observe the U.S. elections in November.
Assistant Secretary of State Paul V. Kelly, who handles legislative affairs for the department, affirmed the invitation this week in a letter to the 13 House members. They had requested U.N. monitors for this year's elections in an effort to avoid the charges of voting irregularities that plagued the 2000 election, the closest in history.
Now, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the largest regional organization in the world with 55 participating nations, will monitor the U.S. election on Nov. 2. Members include Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States.
"OSCE members, including the United States, agreed in 1990 in Copenhagen to allow fellow members to observe elections in one another's countries," Kelly wrote. "Consistent with this commitment, the United States has already invited the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to observe the November 2, 2004, presidential elections."
The congressional initiative was spearheaded by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas. She asked Powell to make an official request that the U.N. provide observers for the Nov. 2 elections in the United States to "ensure free and fair elections."
Previously, the 13 Democratic congressmen, led by Johnson, sent a letter July 8 to the U.N. general secretary requesting the presence of U.N. representatives in every county of the country during the voting process and any vote recount afterwards.
The U.N. immediately responded that such a request could not be accepted unless it came from the U.S. government. Otherwise, a spokesman said, it could be considered"intervention in a country's sovereignty."
"As legislators, we should guarantee the American people that our country will not experience another nightmare like the 2000 presidential elections," the members of Congress said in their letter to Annan.
In her letter to Powell, Johnson expressed grave concerns regarding electoral system reforms that were not undertaken after the 2000 election.
Recalling the contentious Florida vote count in 2000, the lawmakers urged the U.N. to "ensure free and fair elections in America."
"As lawmakers, we must assure the people of America that our nation will not experience the nightmare of the 2000 presidential election," Johnson said in the letter. "This is the first step in making sure that history does not repeat itself."
Meanwhile, Rep. Corrine Brown, a Florida Democrat, announced that the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has confirmed that it will be present in the United States specifically, in Florida on Election Day.
However, state election authorities in Florida have already announced that such observers are not to be allowed access to the voting process and, in any case, they would have to remain at a distance of more than 50 feet from the polls.
Besides Johnson, the congressional signers to the original U.N. letters included Julia Carson of Indiana, Jerrold Nadler, Edolphus Towns, Joseph Crowley and Carolyn B. Maloney, all of New York, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Corrine Brown of Florida, Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, Danny K. Davis of Illinois, and Michael M. Honda and Barbara Lee of California.
This is a joke, right? Please tell me this is a sick joke, please!!!
Is there any way to substantiate this?
I've heard that its been on Fox News already.
Monitor or observe?
You are right. This is the specialty departments of the UN. Go to the UN website and click on human rights then search for OSCE and OIRHD and see for yourself. Bush has called for the UN to monitor our elections in a round about way.
Instead of Bush calling for more Americans to help at the polling booths, he call on foreigners. This really sucks.
What will the 'Rats do when GWB's election victory is certified and approved (although reluctantly) by none other than their beloved, precious UN? "But they, um, er, stole, the election because Cheney and his Haliburton cronies bribed UN officials, yeah, that's it ... "
I'm having a real problem dealing with this! The dam UN has no place in our elections.. foreign governments have no place in our elections! Dam it, this is NOT some third world country. It's The United States of America. We should send those Democrats to some other place than our Congress. It's a discrace and so is the response from our State Department, if it's true.
Pre-emption my foot. It is called bowing to the Democrats. This is the UN.
How many times have you read that Germany, France, ect. hate Americans especiallly conservatives? Now, they are going to monitor our elections. Tell me where this is a smart move.
As first I was shocked and outraged
but this could get interesting and blow up big on the Dem
as there the one that are famous for trying to rig election and buying voted
and where are these monitor most likely to be but in the major urban centers the Dem strong hold
remember ever major "irregularity" in 2000 was in Dem controlled district
..
The Dem were showboating calling for UN monitor they never really expected to get it
calling the big BS bluff could end up being the Democrats worst nightmare....
It would all depend it tha monitor are half way honest or just a bunch of left wing internationalist aholes
Ugh!...:(
Why is Bush doing this? He's not going to get ONE vote from this.
Will they monitor the elections in Chicago, St Louis and other Democratic bastions of election fraud? No. They will select whatever battleground the Democrats tell them to.
Overarching theme: everyone one in the world, especially Europe, wants us reduced to a second-class or even third-class power. Most of the world is Socialist (complete with the usual Socialist illnesses of massive pollution and repression) and would love nothing more than to extinguish the center of capitalism in the world. So, the rest of the world will be more than glad to slam the Republicans and Bush.
I agree. He'll lose Conservative & Republican votes IMHO!
I probably won't vote.
Good luck on your vote counting especially if your polling place is observed by the French.
They are not here to "audit" the election as the Dems want.
They did the same thing in 2002
This is part of a 1990 agreement so it isn't something that has been pulled out of thin air.
And exactly what can they do? It is not as if they are going to sway any vote to one or the other...
It is a great strategic move. It takes away a Democrat position from them and effectively nullifies any complaints that can be raised by them (again). Tell me you dont see that!!!!
And from where will the Useless Nations draw their monitors? Let's see: there's always Cuba. We wouldn't have to pay much for their travel. How about Iran? They've had plenty of successful elections. Gabon? Dr. AlHaji Omar Bongo is just about finished with his 25 year term as president; I'm sure he was duly elected. The Sudan? Yet another shining example of trustworthy moslems. I sure hope W knows what he's doing on this.
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