Florida still having "problems" with election

[elcorazon]

 
Carter fears Florida vote trouble
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".

Mr Carter, a veteran observer of polls worldwide, also accused Florida's top election official of "bias".

His remarks come ahead of the first TV debate between Mr Bush and John Kerry.

They are expected to discuss the war on Iraq and homeland security during the programme on Thursday.


 It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation
Jimmy Carter
 

Both men have cut back on their campaign touring to go behind closed doors and rehearse the arguments and techniques they will need during a series of three debates to be held over two weeks.
Each has held mock debates with aides standing in for their opponent.

Tens of millions of television viewers are expected to watch Thursday's head-to-head.

Mr Kerry, a debating champion at high school and college, will hope it can help him claw back a deficit in the polls variously put between 3% and 9%.

Florida vote

In an article in the Washington Post newspaper, Mr Carter, a Democrat, said that he and ex-President Gerald Ford, a Republican, had been asked to draw up recommendations for changes after the last vote in Florida was marred by arguments over the counting of ballots.

Mr Carter said the reforms they came up with had still not been implemented.

He accused Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, a Republican, of trying to get the name of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader included on the state ballot, knowing he might divert Democrat votes.

He also said: "A fumbling attempt has been made recently to disqualify 22,000 African Americans (likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics (likely Republicans), as alleged felons."

Mr Carter said Florida Governor Jeb Bush - brother of the president - had "taken no steps to correct these departures from principles of fair and equal treatment or to prevent them in the future".

"It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation," he added.

"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."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/3693354.stm

Published: 2004/09/27 14:55:53 GMT

© BBC MMIV

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Actually, Carter is still having problems with the election of 1980.

[KEmperor]

Actually, Carter is still having problems with the election of 1980.

Note to Carter: Given your spectacular job as President, you would be more suited to reading op-eds, not writing them.

[MODU]

Given the fact that Carter spoke at Kerry's convention, you cannot accept his message as unbias.  Secondly, most of the counties have gotten rid of the butterfly ballots which were the cause of the 2000 fiasco.  I think Florida has done well with retooling for this election.

[qwerty]

I hadn't even realized Jimmy Carter was still alive.

[zorkpolitics]

Carter has a lot of experience in watching other countries carry out elections.  What is different in those countries?  They  have much stronger anti fraud provisions.

For example, a single national voter registration list would eliminate the fraud caused by double registration and voting.  For example there are 10,000's of Democrats registered in both NY and FL.  It would also eliminate the unknown thousands of students who register and vote twice, once at college and in their home states.  

Also, nearly all countries require a positive ID to register and a positive ID to vote, but most of the US does not.  Thus you have the on going fraud by ACT to register people from phone books, the dead, etc. and then apply for absentee ballots for these illegals.  The US makes it pathetically easy to register, so that illegal aliens both register and vote (8 of the 9 Sept 11 hijackers were registered to vote!)

Interestingly, the above anti fraud provisions are opposed by Democrats, (they fear intimidation more than fraud).

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Carter has a lot of experience in watching other countries carry out elections.  What is different in those countries?  They  have much stronger anti fraud provisions.

For example, a single national voter registration list would eliminate the fraud caused by double registration and voting.  For example there are 10,000's of Democrats registered in both NY and FL.  It would also eliminate the unknown thousands of students who register and vote twice, once at college and in their home states.  

Also, nearly all countries require a positive ID to register and a positive ID to vote, but most of the US does not.  Thus you have the on going fraud by ACT to register people from phone books, the dead, etc. and then apply for absentee ballots for these illegals.  The US makes it pathetically easy to register, so that illegal aliens both register and vote (8 of the 9 Sept 11 hijackers were registered to vote!)

Interestingly, the above anti fraud provisions are opposed by Democrats, (they fear intimidation more than fraud).

California says "WARNING: It is illegal to register to vote if you are not eligible or to fraudulently register other persons. Punishable by up to three years in prison."

I assume other states say something similar

[MODU]

California says "WARNING: It is illegal to register to vote if you are not eligible or to fraudulently register other persons. Punishable by up to three years in prison."

Do they ask for ID?  It wasn't long ago that a group in Virginia was trying to lift the requirement to display valid state ID when voting.

[J. J.]

Anybody hear about the number of absentee ballots, especially military absentee ballots.

[Trilobyte]

Note to Carter: Given your spectacular job as President, you would be more suited to reading op-eds, not writing them.

I really wish some people would show a little respect for a former president. You might not agree with him, but at least hold back the arrogance. Who are you to tell anyone, let alone a former president, that he is "more suited to reading op-eds?"

Seriously, stating an opinion is one thing, but people ought to stop embarassing themselves like this.

[A18]

I really wish some people would show a little respect for a CURRENT president.

[J. J.]

. Who are you to tell anyone, let alone a former president, that he is "more suited to reading op-eds?"

Simple, I lived under his administration.  I hate to put it that way, but it's true.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I really wish some people would show a little respect for a CURRENT president.

I agree, too many people make fun of Al Gore.

[KEmperor]

The only good thing Carter ever did as president was to help negotiate the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.  Beyond that, it was a total disaster in both foreign and domestic policy.  I have no respect for him.  This is not a "hate Democrats" thing either, I repect Clinton as a President.  I don't agree with a lot of what he did, but I can admit that he did a fine job.  You cannot honestly tell me the same thing about Carter.

[Trilobyte]

The only good thing Carter ever did as president was to help negotiate the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.  Beyond that, it was a total disaster in both foreign and domestic policy.  I have no respect for him.  This is not a "hate Democrats" thing either, I repect Clinton as a President.  I don't agree with a lot of what he did, but I can admit that he did a fine job.  You cannot honestly tell me the same thing about Carter.

I agree that Carter did not have the best policies, and he did make a lot mistakes during his term, but let's face it: leading America in the late 70s was not easy. A lot of things that happened were beyond his control or expectations. While he is at least partly responsible for the troubles in those years, I think over the decades he has taken a lot more blame than he deserves.

[J. J.]

And it suddenly got worse on January 20, 1977???  And suddenly got better on January 20, 1981???

In terms of such things as unemployment and inflation, Carter was a disaster.  He may have been in a hard situatio, but he made it worse.

[nomorelies]

Yep its a problem. what will be done about it nothing.

The only time that something will happen is when Republicans get denied the vote like the dems had in Florida in 2000.

[jimrtex]

He accused Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, a Republican, of trying to get the name of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader included on the state ballot, knowing he might divert Democrat votes.

Florida has one of the most liberal ballot access laws with regard to Presidential elections (that is why they had 3 different brands of socialist parties in 2000 - not counting the Green Party).   It is unconsciousable that the Democrat Party was trying to keep Nader off the ballot.    The SCOFLA ruled 6-1 against the Democrat's attempt to disenfranchise voters.

They're doing similar things elsewhere.  In Maine, the argument was that the name of elector candidate on the petition was give as J. Middlename Surname, rather than Jane Middlename Surname.  In New Mexico it was a claim that Nader couldn't be an independent in NM, because he was a party candidate in other States (IIRC, the SoS was the Democrat party chair that was arguing against properly counting straight party votes in 2000).

Maybe Carter should be looking into the ballot access laws of Georgia, where even in 1996 the Green Party couldn't get on the ballot, one of only a handful of states where this was not true.