Jimmy Carter: Florida less ready for fair elections than Venezuela, Indonesia, or Mozambique

["Pete Klammer" <pklammer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Pete Klammer, P.E. / ACM(1970), IEEE(SA,P1583), ICCP(CCP), NSPE(PE)
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-----Original Message-----
From: Lotus [mailto:lotus23@xxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2004 10:12 PM
To: lotus23@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Jimmy Carter On Florida Vote



Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote

By Jimmy Carter

Monday, September 27, 2004; Page A19, The Washington Post Company

After the debacle in Florida four years ago, former president Gerald Ford 
and I were asked to lead a blue-ribbon commission to recommend changes in 
the American electoral process. After months of concerted effort by a 
dedicated and bipartisan group of experts, we presented unanimous 
recommendations to the president and Congress. The government responded 
with the Help America Vote Act of October 2002. Unfortunately, however, 
many of the act's key provisions have not been implemented because of 
inadequate funding or political disputes.

The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems 
likely, even as many other nations are conducting elections that are 
internationally certified to be transparent, honest and fair.

The Carter Center has monitored more than 50 elections, all of them held 
under contentious, troubled or dangerous conditions. When I describe these 
activities, either in the United States or in foreign forums, the almost 
inevitable questions are: "Why don't you observe the election in Florida?" 
and "How do you explain the serious problems with elections there?"

The answer to the first question is that we can monitor only about five 
elections each year, and meeting crucial needs in other nations is our top 
priority. (Our most recent ones were in Venezuela and Indonesia, and the 
next will be in Mozambique.) A partial answer to the other question is that 
some basic international requirements for a fair election are missing in 
Florida.

The most significant of these requirements 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.

It was obvious that in 2000 these basic standards were not met in Florida, 
and there are disturbing signs that once again, as we prepare for a 
presidential election, some of the state's leading officials hold strong 
political biases that prevent necessary reforms.

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.

The top election official has also played a leading role in qualifying 
Ralph Nader as a candidate, knowing that two-thirds of his votes in the 
previous election came at the expense of Al Gore. She ordered Nader's name 
be included on absentee ballots even before the state Supreme Court ruled 
on the controversial issue.

Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, naturally a strong supporter of his brother, 
has 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. 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.

Former president Carter is chairman of the Carter Center in Atlanta.