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WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug 11 (OneWorld) - An effort by more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers to bring international observers to monitor the November elections has paid off with an invitation by the State Department to the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe (OSCE (news - web sites)).
The 55-nation group has already responded positively to the invitation, although it has yet to determine how many observers will be sent and how precisely they will be deployed. A delegation is scheduled to visit the United States next month to nail down details.
State Department officials stressed that the OSCE delegation will not have the authority to assess the fairness of the vote, but its will be expected to issue a report on any problems or shortcomings as part of a new program for all OSCE members.
In addition to Washington's NATO (news - web sites) allies, the OSCE consists of virtually all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the new states created out of the former Soviet Union in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Democrats greeted the announcement as a victory in their efforts to draw international scrutiny to the elections process, particularly in the wake of the 2000 presidential elections in which George W. Bush squeaked out a tiny electoral majority, thanks to an especially controversial vote count in Florida, despite losing the popular vote by some half a million votes.
"It's a step in the right direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are fair and transparent," said Rep. Barbara Lee (news, bio, voting record), a California Congresswoman who was one of 13 lawmakers who asked UN Secretary Kofi Annan (news - web sites) to send UN observers to oversee this year's elections.
"Given the deeply troubling events of the 2000 election, the growing concerns about the lack of necessary reforms and potential abuse in the 2004 election," the lawmakers wrote, "we believe that the engagement of international election monitors can be the catalyst to expedite the necessary reform, as well as reduce the likelihood of questionable practices and voter disenfranchisement on Election Day."
When the UN responded that the U.S. government would have make the request in order for the world body to respond, the 13 lawmakers sent a second letter to Powell asking for his help in securing UN monitors.
The letters drew outrage from many Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives. They promptly attached an amendment to the 2005 foreign-aid bill banning the use of any of that money to finance UN monitoring of the election.
"For over 200 years, this nation has conducted elections fairly and impartially, ensuring that each person's vote will count," said Rep. Stephen Buyer during debate on the floor of the House of Representatives. "Imagine going to your polling place on the morning of November 2 and seeing blue-helmeted foreigners inside your local library, school or fire station."
While Powell did not act on the request for UN monitors, he did send an invitation to the OSCE pursuant to special program that encourages all member countries to observe each others' elections.
"OSCE members, including the United States, agreed in 1990 in Copenhagen to allow fellow members to observe elections in one another's countries," Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Paul Kelly replied in a letter to the 13 lawmakers. "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."
In fact, the OSCE also sent a small delegation of monitors to the 2002 mid-term elections, but the 2004 mission is expected to be much larger. Nonetheless, the 2002 delegation, which observed voting in Florida, submitted a critical report that included recommendations for improvements.
The invitation to OSCE drew scorn from far-right groups that apparently were unaware of the 2002 mission.
"Obviously, somebody over at Foggy Bottom misread the Constitution," stated Tom Kilgannon, president of the Freedom Alliance, a Virginia-based group founded during the Iran-Contra scandal in support of then-Lt. Col. Oliver North. "According to our Founding Fathers, it is the 'States' - not the 'State Department' - which are in charge of overseeing federal elections."
In their letter to Annan and Powell, the Democrats cited a report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights that concluded that the 2000 electoral process in Florida was flawed and that the "disenfranchisement of Florida's' voters fell most harshly on the shoulders of black voters."
They drew particular attention to the purging of names from voter-registration lists, an issue that continues to draw controversy in Florida. In hearings just last month, the Commission heard testimony indicating that purge lists in some counties had not been updated and that several thousand people were still wrongly listed as felons ineligible to cast ballots.
One non-governmental group, San Francisco-based Global Exchange, has itself invited foreign observers who have monitored elections outside their countries to observe the November balloting in at least six states, including Florida.
"Our experience monitoring elections in ten countries around the world has shown that the presence of non-governmental observers can help boost public confidence in electoral processes," said Ted Lewis, who directs the group's Fair Elections project.
And so the process starts...the democrats inviting the UN to regulate, er ahem, "monitor," what we do in this country.
The UN can shove those blue helmets up their ass as far as i'm concerned...better yet, how about they just shove them up that coward Annan's ass.
That is *almost* enough to make me want to vote for that born-again-religious-nut motherfucker. I'm registered in Texas, so it's not like it really matters who I vote for anyways. 
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