WP op-ed: Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote, by Jimmy Carter

[DeepModem Mom]

Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote

By Jimmy Carter
Monday, September 27, 2004; Page A19


....The most significant of these requirements (for a fair election) are:

• A nonpartisan electoral commission or a trusted and nonpartisan official who will be responsible for organizing and conducting the electoral process before, during and after the actual voting takes place. Although rarely perfect in their objectivity, such top administrators are at least subject to public scrutiny and responsible for the integrity of their decisions. Florida voting officials have proved to be highly partisan, brazenly violating a basic need for an unbiased and universally trusted authority to manage all elements of the electoral process.

• Uniformity in voting procedures, so that all citizens, regardless of their social or financial status, have equal assurance that their votes are cast in the same way and will be tabulated with equal accuracy. Modern technology is already in use that makes electronic voting possible, with accurate and almost immediate tabulation and with paper ballot printouts so all voters can have confidence in the integrity of the process. There is no reason these proven techniques, used overseas and in some U.S. states, could not be used in Florida.

Four years ago, the top election official, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, was also the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney state campaign committee. The same strong bias has become evident in her successor, Glenda Hood, who was a highly partisan elector for George W. Bush in 2000. Several thousand ballots of African Americans were thrown out on technicalities in 2000, and a fumbling attempt has been made recently to disqualify 22,000 African Americans (likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics (likely Republicans), as alleged felons. (Carter also cites Hood's role in qualifying Nader for the Florida ballot, and having his name printed on absentee ballots before a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court. He also points out that, for obvious reasons, Jeb Bush has made no attempt to assure a fair election in Florida.)...

***

It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation. It is especially objectionable among us Americans, who have prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure democracy. With reforms unlikely at this late stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious process in Florida.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52800-2004Sep26.html

[coreystone]

1. Carter fears Florida vote trouble. (BBC)

Voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements" and could undermine the US election, former US President Jimmy Carter says.

He said a repeat of the irregularities of the much-disputed 2000 election - which gave President George W Bush the narrowest of wins - "seems likely".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3693354.stm

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for adding the BBC article, coreystone --

[Jack Rabbit]

3. One of the most important reasons to defeat Bush

One of the most important reasons to defeat Bush is that if he retains power, this may be the last election for a long time that resembles one that is free and fair. As it is, Bush holds power in spite of losing in 2000 and, as far as I am concerned, no margin of victory in this election can make legitimate that which is illegitimate. George W. Bush is a fraud who is not and can never be President.

We have stood by as Governor Bush of Florida, the imposter's brother, has put in place a new set of accidents waiting to happen that will deprive citizens of their right to vote and to eliminate any chance that that tallies of electronic voting machines can be validated. Is anybody so naive as to think that is just incompetence? Jeb Bush belongs in the slammer, not in the governor's mansion.

[NJCher]

4. see this thread

How they are harrassing leaders in Florida:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x867445


Cher

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Thanks for the link, NJC -- that story is an outrage!

[Jack Rabbit]

6. BBC (Friday): The machinery of an anxious democracy

From the BBC Online
Dated Friday September 24

The machinery of an anxious democracy
November's presidential elections will be truly historic.
By Clare Murphy
BBC News Online

For the first time, representatives from the OSCE - the European body which has traditionally monitored elections in fledgling democracies - will observe as Americans elect their president.
There have certainly been objections to the involvement of foreign monitors in the domestic affairs of a country which sees itself as a beacon of democracy.
But the Florida fiasco of 2000 with its hanging chads and voter purges has shaken confidence in the sanctity of the system, producing in the words of one observer, a climate of "unease, distrust and scepticism".
New technology brought in to replace the old - polls suggest - is as mistrusted as that which it has replaced, and anxiety abounds in the media over every conceivable aspect of the vote.

Read more.

For decades, the BBC has been a traditional source of news and information for those living in places deprived of a free and independent press. That is why this American living in the age of Bush and corporatism relies on the BBC and the British press to find out what is happening in America.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. God bless the Beeb!