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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (53125)	8/9/2004 11:32:39 PM
From: Kip518	Respond to of 89467

Foreign Monitors to Report on U.S. Presidential Vote By Saul Hudson Reuters Monday 09 August 2004 Washington - Major international monitors will issue an unprecedented report on the handling of this year's U.S. presidential election, after the 2000 vote raised concerns of disenfranchisement, U.S. officials said on Monday. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will a send a team to observe the vote in a move applauded by Democrats who had sought monitors because they felt ballots were unfairly left uncounted last time, particularly in Florida. In 2000, voters split down the middle in Florida, which was ridiculed worldwide as it spawned court battles over whether and how to count imperfect ballots. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled George W. Bush was the winner by 537 votes, which put him in the White House. With polls showing this year's election between Bush and Democrat John Kerry will also be tight, civil rights groups have raised concern over a repeat of the 2000 debacle. The OSCE, which groups 55 countries, does not have a mandate to judge the fairness of this year's vote. Still, while some OSCE representatives have observed U.S. presidential votes before, this year will be the first time they will report publicly afterward on any shortcomings it finds, according to State Department officials. "This represents a step in the right direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are fair and transparent," Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, said in a statement. "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." Lee was one of a group of Democrats in the House of Representatives who initially wanted U.N. monitors. Republicans complained a U.N. mission would make the world's superpower look like a third world nation and passed an amendment in the House banning the use of federal funds to make such a request. The OSCE traditionally has monitored elections in fragile democracies to determine if they were fair. But in the last few years it has also observed votes in major Western powers, such as France and Spain, in a new program to help its members learn from others' examples. The State Department, which traditionally invites OSCE observers, requested the mission under that new program. Focusing on Florida, an OSCE mission observed the 2002 mid-term U.S. congressional elections to see what changes had been put in place "to address the challenges of the 2000 presidential election," the OSCE vote report said. The report noted "remedial measures" had significantly addressed the shortcomings of two years earlier in Florida but said "room for some further improvement remains."