OSCE observing elections

[BrayD]

Just saw a news clip about how the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe will be observing the upcoming elections in key battleground States. After a bit of research, I found that this organization is a UN charter and they have been observing numerous elections here in the US since 2002.

This news was a little unsettling to me. What business does the UN have with our election process? We are a sovereign nation that has open and free elections. Yet the UN feels they need to bear witness to this process.

Just curious what others on this board think of the UN observing our elections at polling stations.

Here's a news article about how Texas told them not to interfere: http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/96639

Edit: I don't want this to be about the candidates or whether this hurts/helps one candidate over the other. Instead, I want the focus to be on how others feel about a European organization coming in to make sure we are following and enforcing our own election laws.

 

[dank69]

Monitoring and observing are not the same thing as interfering. I'm not surprised that Texas does not know the difference.

 

[HomerJS]

The more people watching the better. I have no problem with it.

Let's see where the objections come from. Telling.

 

[Jaskalas]

Can't cry foul if you lose, if you aren't there.

 

[Steeplerot]

Pretty much no one trusts/has faith in the system here in the USA either regardless of the knee jerk nationalism of some. Surprise?


Left or Right or plain don't care about politics, everyone thinks they have it gamed against us somehow or another.

Left says its greed/corporations, the right swears its the government and human nature being evil, and the ones with the power laugh and rake it in.

Really people here don't like to look at the big picture nowadays, it's not pretty and it's damn hard/complicated to agree on who to simply blame for the whole mess of history so we can get back to thinking about something that sucks less.

 

[ichy]

Let them observe whatever they want. It's a free country.

 

[blankslate]

This news was a little unsettling to me. What business does the UN have with our election process? We are a sovereign nation that has open and free elections. Yet the UN feels they need to bear witness to this process.

What business do corporations have in elections? We should not be using corporate machines using proprietary source code that cannot be looked at by third parties for public elections of government representatives

Especially when at least one model has been shown to not be secure.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220356/Argonne_researchers_hack_Diebold_e_voting_system_

Researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory this week showed how an electronic voting machine model that's expected to be widely used to tally votes in the 2012 elections can be easily hacked using inexpensive, widely-available electronic components. Roger Johnston, head of the Vulnerability Assessment Team at the U.S. Department of Energy's science and engineering reseaech lab, said the hack, which requires about $25 and very little technical expertise, would let cybercriminals "flip" votes gathered on Diebold Accuvote TS machines and change election results without raising any suspicion.
Johnston and his team have long warned about vulnerabilities in e-voting machines. And two years ago, the team demonstrated how a Sequoia touch screen e-voting machine could be similarly manipulated using cheap components.

Observation isn't so bad an idea.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

The OSCE can observe in Texas...they have to be 100 feet from a polling place like all other observers. This is how Texas prevent people or groups from intimidating voters like the NBPP did in the Philadelphia area 4 years ago.

https://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=4195

Elections and election observation are regulated by state law. The Texas Election Code governs anyone who participates in Texas elections—including representatives of the OSCE. The OSCE’s representatives are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place. It may be a criminal offense for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance. Failure to comply with these requirements could subject the OSCE’s representatives to criminal prosecution for violating state law.

 

[Juror No. 8]

Let them observe whatever they want. It's a free country.

LOL. The only "freedom" you have is the freedom to do what you're told.

 

[ichy]

LOL. The only "freedom" you have is the freedom to do what you're told.

As you've shown you also have the freedom to be a moron.

 

[MovingTarget]

Let them observe. If our democratic process is really as sacrosanct as we like to tell ourselves, then we ought to be putting it on direct display for the rest of the world to see. We should be setting the example, not hiding from accountability.

 

[Orignal Earl]

What business do corporations have in elections? We should not be using corporate machines using proprietary source code that cannot be looked at by third parties for public elections of government representatives

Especially when at least one model has been shown to not be secure.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220356/Argonne_researchers_hack_Diebold_e_voting_system_


Observation isn't so bad an idea.

I was reading on another site about how Diebold could make machines for casinos that were perfectly secure, but for some reason they could not repeat it with the voting machines.
At least the Romneys have invested in machines for Ohio, so they can be sure they aren't tampered with

Ohio's voting machines – brought to you by the Romneys

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...s--brought-to-you-by-the-romneys-8225216.html

 

[Juror No. 8]

As you've shown you also have the freedom to be a moron.

LOL. I knew you wouldn't be able to defend your "free country" nonsense.

LOL.

 

[D-Man]

It is a little unsettling to have the UN in our country to do Anything. But if they come maybe we can ask them to check to see if we took all the small arms away from US Citizens while they are here. Then they could access us a dollar amount we need to give to poorer countries. My take Stay the Hell Home Guys. Thank the libs for this intrusion damm evil America.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Let them observe. If our democratic process is really as sacrosanct as we like to tell ourselves, then we ought to be putting it on direct display for the rest of the world to see. We should be setting the example, not hiding from accountability.

This.

 

[D-Man]

More than two-thirds of the 120,000 Japanese who were interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United States.
So tell me about this free country Always but Always as one poster stated on Anand's
" I take my rights with me every where I go" Paraphrased do not remember his exact quote.

 

[Juror No. 8]

More than two-thirds of the 120,000 Japanese who were interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United States.
So tell me about this free country Always but Always as one poster stated on Anand's
" I take my rights with me every where I go" Paraphrased do not remember his exact quote.

"But, but, but... that was different! Those concentration camps we put the Japanese in were like summer camps! Inside the walls of the camps, the Japaneses were "free" to do whatever the guards allowed them to do! Seriously! Sure, if they tried to escape they could've been shot, but they were "free" otherwise! Damn, I'm missing American Idol! I'll catch you guys later!"