Jimmy Carter wouldn't oversee elections in the US...

[dave123williams]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4120400

One of the questions the interviewer asked was that if the Carter Center
were asked to oversee the upcoming US presidential election to ensure
that it was fair (as the Center does for elections in many other
countries), would the organization do it.

Surprisingly, Carter's answer was a flat-out "no," and when the
interviewer asked why, he said that the US does not meet four very
important criteria for election fairness that his organization has
developed and requires for all countries it agrees to work with:

1. That all candidates have equal, and cost-free, access to the media.
(Our system of paid political advertisements provides better access for
the candidate(s) with the most money.)
2. That the election be overseen by a non-partisan or bi-partisan
election committee. (We don't have anything like this in our election
process.)
3. That all people in the country vote using a the same kind of voting
system or technology. (We have some people voting with pencil and paper,
some with punch cards, some with the Inka system, some with mechanical
machines and some with electronic systems.)
4. That there be a verifiable means for providing an accurate recount,
if necessary. (Many of our voting technologies, including some of the
newer electronic systems, do not provide this.)

I found it utterly astonishing that the US can't even begin to live up
to the election standards that many other countries, even many in the
third world, must be living up to these days.

Among other things, Carter also talked at length about the horrendous
bias at work in the Florida vote counts in 2000, and how there is the
same or even worse potential for abuse there this year by Bush's
friends, relatives and sympathizers in high places.

Definitely worth a listen for those caught up in politics these days.

[Booster]

1. What a man. I love Carter. he has more honesty and

integrity in his little finger than Bush has in his whole body. After this election, we should form a task force to fix what's wrong with our voting system, and I nominate the honorable Jimmy Carter to head it. It's really needed and 4 years overdue.