One Afghan voter, two voting cards

[Todd33]

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040817-023621-7351r.htm

"We know that multiple registration has happened," U.N. spokesperson Manoel de Almeida e Silva said Monday. "We have no idea of what that volume is." The total number of cards issued will far exceed 10 million, he said.

Stories of people illegally obtaining multiple voting cards for cash have been circulating for months, the Toronto Star reported Tuesday.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged that perhaps 1,000 to 100,000 people have more than one voting card.

"As a matter of fact it doesn't bother me if Afghans have two registration cards and if they like to vote twice, well welcome," Karzai said last week at a Kabul press conference with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. "This is an exercise in democracy and let them exercise it twice."

The United States had hoped to hold Afghanistan up as an example of democracy dawning in the developing world, but evidence of attempted vote rigging threatens to undermine that goal.

At least they hold the Afghan government to the same standards.

 

[conjur]

Gotta love the thinking of the members of the Bush oil-club. Good ol' Karzai.

 

[maddogchen]

well it is there first try, mistakes are bound to happen. I'm just surprised they were able to pull it off with the violence, and the remoteness in some areas. In such a war-torn, shattered, third-world country things like this happen.

 

[Todd33]

They didn't pull it off.

 

[maddogchen]

Originally posted by: Todd33
They didn't pull it off.

not successfully but they did finish the registration drive as the article states. I remember reading the Taliban were threatening and killing people who registered and UN, US, and Afghan officials were afraid people wouldn't register. That they got 9.8 million registered voters despite the violence is a good start for democracy there.

See you just got to look at the positive side of things
People are working hard over there, but you can't expect everything to go perfectly.

Now, when the voting starts, they'll just have to be on the lookout for people who voted twice or people who voted but hadn't registered. Now what to do with these votes will be a tough decision.