International team to monitor presidential election

Cnn.com

[repub32]

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.

[fuzzy122]

So we'll have Kerry's 6000 lawyers AND the French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Russions here. All to make sure Bush doesn't get elected!

That's just f'n peachy!

Dubya will need to win by a landslide just to have a chance!

MEGA-

Stay Strong
Fuzzy

[AnimalLover]

I am outraged I dont even know how to explain what I feel about this, what is going on in this country?????????? Im real scared.........

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger! You have lots of company.

[ZULU]

This is a joke, right??

Or I'm still dreaming here at 4:00 in the morning.

If this is the case, I'm for suspending elections, maintaining the current Administration, and disenfranchsing all Democrats.

They are enemies of America.

[GretchenM]

This is the only thread on it I've seen.

[texastoo]

Before you do anything do a little research. This was signed in 1990 by George H. Bush. OCSE and ODIHR answer to the UN. Just like our Social Security Department is part of our goverment, OCSE and ODIHR is part of the UN.

[The Raven]

This is part of the on-going Dem spin.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

This will bite the Demwits in the ass. I can think of several Governers who might take the twits at the State Department to task over this. Screw the Rats, their bosses at the Useless Nations, and the French horse they rode in on.

[joesnuffy]

The Bush administration allows Koffi the camel to stick nose under tent.....more to follow

[goldstategop]

WE don't need Eurotrash to tell us our elections are clean.

[thegreatbeast]

shocked to find out the osce was here in 02

"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."

"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.

It looks like another great demonic notion of Father Bush. The best that can be said about this is that it is another sinkhole to throw more of our tax dollars into.

But don't worry, follow the advice of "the majority" here and roll over and go back to sleep.

[wonders]

Bump to your #50. A voice of reason in the midst of madness. Well done.

[theDentist]

Which stupid mother*&(&*&*^ decided we were some banana republic who needed help? Someone's a@@ needs to be kicked around the Washington Monument and then fired.

[jaykay]

Well, for starters, how about giving the democrats an opening to sue the U.S. in the World Court?

IF that happen?? ... then you can say good bye to the Dem Party .. because American's will freak out on them

You might freak out. I'll freak out. A few others will too, but most American's will go shopping, watch a ballgame, download porn or otherwise entertain themselves to stupification.

They might go to the polls and try to pick the next American Idol instead of the next President.

[reformedliberal]

Thanx. I just logged on and it's early and I read thru the rest of the post just now in an under-caffienated state.

I am depressed. The posters who are in an extreme state of agitation just do not get it.

So far, FRiends, the South Florida election officers are the only ones who have complained about the observers. South Florida has told them they must stay 50 feet from the polling place and will not be allowed inside. Since this is the most problematic part of any state in the Union, don't you see that it is the precincts that are set to commit fraud that have the most to lose?

On one hand, some people believe every precinct is corrupted by the Donks' fraud. On the other, the same people are outraged that our elections may be observed because it somehow implies they are not fair.

Do you all recall how the GOP handled the Saint Louis attempted fraud for Carnahan? After hours of dawdeling and getting a court order to keep some STL polling places open an extra hour, theose precincts finally had to submit their votes. They thought they had enough extra to win. However, the Republican collar counties didn't report their totals until after STL did and therefore, the inner city had no real idea of what totals they needed to offset ours. Our side is not stupid or naive. We don't cheat, but we can control much of the Donk fraud.

Every left wing media is right now writing articles about the fraud available to those using touch screen machines &/or absentee ballots. These machines have been used for several elections in some places. They have been examined and NO fraud was found. Absentee ballots are misused by Donks in many places, but do not necessarily take longer to count: I queried an election worker and was told that even in places like Milwaukee, they were counted continually during the day.Part of the Republican GOTV includes encouraging use of absentee ballots so we know what our locked-in vote count is on election day as we encourage our supporters to get out and vote. Go to the BC04 campaign office nearest you and take the 72 Hour training, which explains this.

Please, FReepers: you are being rolled by the Left over the UN non-issue and the sovereignty non-issue. Lefties play the far right like a violin. They did it to Papa Bush. They tried to do it w/the DUI to W. They tried to do it to Arnie w/the groping allegations. It was Gore's former staff who now head Environmental News Service who set neighbor against neighbor by publishing the CRP participants in each rural county and insinuating we were all being cheated if farmers got subsidies far lower than those given to farmers in Europe and Japan.They know your issues and they have contempt for your reasoning abilities and they are trying to get you exercised so you will not vote or will create a contrtemps in precincts where they hope to cheat. They want this to be an issue and you are obliging them.Dividing the GOP base is in their playbook and always has been. They see you as volatile and think you will withold your vote if you think a Republican is a moral hypocrite. This is how they got Ryan out in Illinois. Ryan was a threat to them. It worked. Now, they will harp that Dr Keyes is a carpetbagger. It will work.Conservatives do not win in Senate races anywhere. Donks will keep Illinois for another 6 years.

Observers are not the enemy. Anyone trying to create dissension is the enemy. Confusion and dissension and lack of observers and poll watchers who are not lefties are the problem for cheaters. The entire game plan is to be able to write headlines like:"Bush Under Fire From Base" or "Election in Doubt".

Get a grip. Pull up your sox. Volunteer thru the campaign. Take the training. Smile, and if you cannot smile, you can at least keep a pleasant neutral expression on your face while performing poll watcher duties.Experience will give some base of reality from which to evaluate and perhaps act.

This is a non-issue unless you allow the Donks to succeed in making it one thru your hysteria. You will help them set up the conditions to cry fraud even if we win by a landslide.

W took the issue away from the Black Caucus. We will have a few (probably a dozen to 20)foreign observers from these various Western European countries, including our own, who belong to OSCE. They will travel around to different precincts. However: they will have a few days prior to the election to observe the polling setups; they have 12 hrs to observe the balloting and another few hours to observe counting. That's it. Then they leave. You cannot cover all of the USA this way. They will be concentrated in problematic precincts and no doubt some will be in the squeaky clean precincts to see how good our election processes are..

The same Donks who decry any Republicans near a polling place in a black precinct as intimidation in order to question any results they don't like want you all to question the results everywhere.

There is a lot of talk about Civil War II and the use of guns everytime certain FReepers think their sovereignty is being impinged. THINK. That will result in martial law in whichever areas this happens. That will hurt the administration in power if it is Republican. It will smear the GOP if the Donks are in power and can spin it to be *far right wingnuts*. It is not an answer. It is either an emotionally satisfying fantasy or it is being put forth by trolls who are so far right they might as well be far left. And BTW: the far left IS armed, too. The BlackBloc is more than willing to set bombs and sabotage infrastructure. Why would they not also be individually armed? My area is rife w/rumnors that the extremem Greens are having people w/no records buy guns and then giving them to felons. The local LEO cannot act on rumors and have no proof, so nothing is done. The 2nd Amendment cuts both ways.

[reformedliberal]

extremem=extreme

[muawiyah]

We have laws here to protect us against people hanging around the polling places. In this state we may also carry our weapons openly, and, I presume, use them to defend our rights, most particularly the right to vote.

Seems to me this could get quite dicey unless "W" is willing to provide these funny little little foreign people with a very large armed escort.

[pctech]

Just what the devil is going on here. I just can't believe this is going to happen. We can monitor our own elections thank you very much. The UN has no place monitoring anything in this country.

[pollywog]

OK, I probably will not be able to sleep after reading this one folks. This is sick, just sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am outraged I dont even know how to explain what I feel about this, what is going on in this country?????????? Im real scared.........

Oh my goodness!!! This is aweful. What on earth has got into Colin Powell??? What can we do about this???????????

[Atlantic Friend]

You know, Sir, the way I see it, it's a bit like inviting foreign officers to your Spring maneuvers. You do that to show them how confident you are about your troops' performance. And it only grants them observer status, which means they keep mum, take notes, and finally congratulate you about the great show.

It's a good answer to those who say the 2000 election was rigged, after all, and it does not infringe on US sovereignty at all - the guys will observe, not oversee the electoral process.

[NCjim]

What is even scarier than the State Department doing this, is the results of the current CNN poll on their main web site that shows 50% think it's OK.

I shudder to think of the U.S. that this generation is passing down to the next.