Posted on 11/02/2004 8:43:21 AM PST by NormsRevenge
MIAMI (AFP) - They have watched elections in the Balkans, in Asia and South Africa, but the complexity of the US presidential election every four years is enough to give a headache to even the most seasones international observer.
It is "not one election, but 13,000 elections," said Canadian expert Ron Gould, a member of a delegation from the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe (OSCE (news - web sites)) in Miami for the 2004 US elections after observing some 70 elections around the world.
"We like to see the setup, how organized it is, whether they are disorganized, whether they are on time," he explained. Yet "it is impossible to assess a fragmented system," he said.
His notes and those of his colleagues will remain confidential until an official report is released in Washington later in the week.
The numerous local elections, decentralization of the federal electoral system, the power and independence of state electoral authorities and the indirect Electoral College (news - web sites) system pose a huge challenge in trying to explain it all to the rest of the world.
"Most of the world does not understand that someone can win the popular vote and not the presidency," said Roberto Courtney, a Nicaraguan observer working here for the non-governmental Global Exchange.
Former US vice president Al Gore (news - web sites) in 2000 won the popular vote by more than half a million ballots but lost the Electoral College votes of Florida and the White House to President George W. Bush (news - web sites) after vote disputes held up the final results for 36 days.
Florida in 2004 is once again a pivotal, battleground state for the presidential election, but in an effort to prevent another debacle as in 2000, an army of experts, lawyers and observers have spread out across Florida to keep a close eye on things.
One hundred OSCE observers are here to monitor the US election at the invitation of the State Department. In Florida, OSCE observers have concentrated in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where 2000 vote disputes took place.
The State Department on Monday downplayed the presence of the observers. "This is something that all OSCE members routinely do, so this is no exception," said spokesman Adam Ereli.
Election laws in Miami-Dade ban all observers on Election Day but they can visit polling places before the vote as long as a member of the local election committee is with them, said Polish delegation member Konrad Olszewski.
"This is not a standard observation," he said, adding that most people here "don't know anything about the OSCE."
While acknowledging local authorities were somewhat reluctant to allow international observers, Gould said their presence of "is not a criticism" but an indication "that the US is part of the OSCE."
The OSCE observers reserve their commentaries and evaluation of the US electoral system for a report to be issued in Washington on November 4.
The independent Global Exchange observers were not authorized to enter Miami-Dade polling stations, but will be present at centers in northern Broward and Leon counties.
The Global delegations includes legal experts from Chile, Britain, South Africa and Nicaragua who have observed some 250 elections in the past across the world.
Chilean sociologist Manuel Antonio Garreton said the international observers' mission "is not to look for a problem, but observe a process.
"It is not a Third World event," he stressed.
I'll bet Kerry wants to have them in charge, under Kofi and the Kaftan Klan of Korruption, aka UN.
I would not permit foreign observers within 100 yards of any polling place, and I'd arrest any of them who tried to have any contact with a voter.
Get over it. Each state determines its methods and voting requirements. The Electoral Collge acts as a firewall containing fraud to just one state.
Most of the rest of the world also doesn't understand how we have the same constitution with a few amendments, that we adopted in 1789. The US now has the second oldest continuously existing government in the world. The French in the same time period since 1789 have had five republics. Within 50 years they will have a sixth which will be the Islamic Republic of France. Of course the Islamic state will obliterate mention of Frances previous history.
None of them in Philly? That's where the action is today!
Just out of curiosity, but on what grounds?
You know this is really an interesting comment.
I'm wondering if the lack of "standardized" voting procedures in the states is a consequence of federalism.
And if this might be a good thing after all. Sure, a standard system is more efficient, and fraud is problematic, but it's pretty clear who has responsibility for the voting process (local and state authorities). Isn't it?
Read on an earlier post that UN observers were complaining loudly about being used as Democrat pawns. Obviously to almost any American, this was the intention from the start. It shows how completely clueless foreigners are about American days and ways. (As far as I'm concerned it can stay that way too.)
Didn't think so.
Bump!
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