ETHICS: International Election Observers

U.S. lawmakers have requested foreing observers for this year's Presidential Election. To me, this should be a campaign issue. Is this something our country needs to ensure a fair and impartial election this November?

This has been discussed before on ATS, but I think it should be included in the Campaign Issues area. It is not being talked about on the campaign trail, even though I see the observers as a threat to our countries' sovereignty.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

When the U.S. State Department invited a team of international election observers to watch this year's American presidential election, it invited "scandal, fraud and corruption to the American electoral process," a conservative watchdog group has charged.

The American Policy Center (APC) is warning of a "catastrophe," in part because Florida Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings, labeled a "disgraced federal judge" by the APC, will play a prominent role in the election observing. Hastings was elected July 9 as president of the division at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that will be charged with the task.

DeWeese sees the international monitoring of the U.S. elections as a threat to democracy.

"There is a political agenda at work here. The OSCE is not an unbiased team of observers. If the vote in Florida or many other states is as close as predicted, you can bet that Alcee Hastings and his army of foreign monitors will do everything in their power to affect the outcome to their liking," DeWeese said.

The APC critique of the State Department's invitation follows a similarly scathing attack by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). The former Libertarian Party presidential candidate warned on Aug. 16 that inviting international observers to watch the American election violated the principle of federalism.

complete story here

I would be pretty concerned about having Foreign Election observers.

Since the growing sentiment in the world is against Bush, who is to say that Election Observers themselves might not try and rig the election as they want it? Finding anyone truly neutral who will ensure a fair election is pretty difficult these days.

I myself would not want to elect Bush, however....I wouldn't want him losing because of fraud. If America honestly elects him again, then he should be the next president.

I am not sure election observers would be the answer. I think updating voting practices, laws, ect would be a start, and elimination of questionable, possibly dangerous voting practices, like the infamous Diebold machines, would go a long way.

I for one support scantron sheets, like the ones we filled out with pencils in school. No chads, and you can easily make a reciept showing who you voted for.

That is truly a bad idea. I would call it a potential
blow against US sovereignty, but then again, we're
in a war that is not best serving US interests,
so it may be par for the (new) course. I can
only wonder who might benefit from international
observers to our elections. Whatever the case,
they won't find much, as the candidates in this election
seem to provide us with a Hobson's Choice scenario.