Russian Observer Shocked by U.S. Election Procedures

[alexisfree]

Russian Observer Shocked by U.S. Election Procedures
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/03/russianobserver.shtml

MosNews | November 3 2004

A Russian parliamentarian taking part in international monitoring of the U.S. presidential elections has said that the elections were held in violation of U.S. law and that that he was shocked after seeing how the elections were held.

The Interfax news agency cited State Duma deputy Aleksei Ostrovsky of the Liberal Democratic Party as saying that he was shocked by the way the elections were held in the U.S.

“In my opinion there are possibilities to forge the elections results and these possibilities are caused by serious, as we see it, violations of the electoral law,” the MP said in a telephone interview.

The parliamentarian noted that primarily he was shocked by the fact that U.S. citizens do not produce any ID as they come to polling stations. “It is enough to say ’I am Mr. Smith,’ and he is allowed to vote; the same person can exit one polling station and go to another and vote again using the same procedure,” the Russian MP said.

Ostrovsky also noted that all Americans who he talked to had said they did not like voting by computer. “Often people simply do not understand how to vote and nobody really tries to explain it to them,” the observer said.

Apart from Aleksei Ostrovsky two more Russian parliamentarians are observing the U.S. presidential elections under the aegis of the OSCE. They are the deputy chief of State Duma’s International Affairs Committee Aleksandr Kozlovsky of the United Russia faction and a member of the Committee for Affairs of Federation and Regional Policy, Leonid Ivanchenko of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

[russian33]

1. Sad, isn't it? I saw this report..

..on a Russian TV station, and we were amazed. Then speaking with a few friends around NYC, they told me they were never asked for an ID at the poll (I voted absentee).

[trotsky]

7. I voted absentee-in-person here in MN

(The equivalent of early voting)

And I wasn't asked for ID either. I even offered it. That concerned me.

[NYC]

23. We don't show I.D. in New York.

We sign our names, and they compare to the signatures already on file.

[thecrow]

2. Please invade us then; make this right

</sarcasm>

[harpo]

18. Yes please invade us and "free the people" like in Iraq

[Tempest]

3. They're not the only ones

How can a CEO who makes the statement "I am committed to delivering Ohio's electoral votes to president Bush" be allowed to sell voting machines to the state?

How can the brother of the president be allowed to run the elections in a state where he's the governor?

How can the campaign chair of the president be allowed to run the elections office in a state that makes the difference in the election?


We live in a freaking banana republic.

[JeebusB]

4. If that's the way the polls were run where he was,

then he was right to be shocked. Where I was, identification was required and your name was checked off the registered votor's list. Unless you had numerous fake ID's/Voter registration cards, there's no way you could vote at different locations.

[Tempest]

5. I didn't have to show ID

It would have been very easy for me to go in at different times of the day with different registration cards, like my neighbor's card.

And I could have gone into a different polling station with a registration card from a friend in a different district.

[bicentennial_baby]

13. No ID/No Card here in MA

We just walk in and say "Hi. I'm So-and-so, and my address is...." and they hand you a ballot.

[LiberalFighter]

22. Did you sign the book?

How many people did you know that were in line with you?

[bicentennial_baby]

25. We don't sign anything

They just check your name off and hand you the ballot. Small town, approx. 18,000 pop.

No line when I went, and I don't know the poll people either b/c they're all over 80!

[LiberalFighter]

26. Then probably know everyone... almost

[Sugarbleus]

29. I didn't have to show ID, but then I'm a regular voter at the same

place. I received a sample voters ballot with my name and address on it, plus polling place info. I showed that to them and signed in..got my ballot, voted and stuck it in the box
They also check my name against a log book with my info in it and then checked my sample ballot...Simple. I couldn't go to another polling place in my community because my sample ballot is what they look at and it says GO OVER HERE!

I guess a very clever person could feasibly "work the system" but it would be a hassle.

[SeattleDem]

6. super easy to vote as someone else

I spent all day yesterday doing GOTV canvassing. I had lists generated from the party of potential Democratic voters. So now I have the names and addresses of people who occassionally vote in my district. And, if I paid close attention, I even know what time of day they voted yesterday, if at all.

If I were nefarious, I could have volunteered to do GOTV for the Republican party and gotten a similar list. With that information, I could go in 2006 and spend my morning voting for Democrats under the name of occassional Republican-leaning voters. IF and when they showed up, there would be nothing they could do, as no ID is required out here.

[pimpbot]

8. too bad

... we didnt think of yesterday in Ohio. :(

[SeattleDem]

10. because we are not inherently evil

is why we didn't think of it. It only occurred to me as I read this post, today, one day too late...

But I wonder, with all the massive Democratic GOTV efforts around the country, is it possible they got our lists and stole some votes that way? Hmmmmm.....

[lovuian]

9. What he is saying is Cheating in America is Easy!!!

and he is right!!! Bush has gotten in for 8 years doing just that!!!

[Dancing_Dave]

11. Remember we use to laugh at pretenses of "Democracy"

In Soviet-style states?

Now the jokes on us. The whole world can see that we don't have an authentic functioning Democracy any more. A Coup D'Etat has occured.

ALL WE CAN DO IS DEMAND THAT THE CRIMINAL OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE FOR MASSIVE FRAUD IN VIOLATION OF U.S. LAW BE EXPOSED AND BROUGHT TO JUSTICE.

If we don't do that NOW we will not see a return to Democracy in most of our life-times...and those life-times may be considerably shortend.

[ithacan]

12. impressive! This guy is from the LDP, a neofascist party

despite its name it's not liberal or democratic, it's a neofascist nationalist party.

And he's shocked!

Rove is truly impressive

[wordout]

20. damn right

That's Zhirinovsky's party!!!

Maybe he'll be in a position to bring the empire down we certainly can't do it from the inside..

Hey, VLADIMIR! BUSH SAYS HE CAN KICK YOUR ASS!! !BRING IT ON!!

[0rganism]

28. Hey, Karl, show the Russian fellows how it's done

I hope they can appreciate that the system is broken by design, not by accident. Large-scale high-tech election rigging of the Rove variety is an art form, like composing a symphony, not a chance concurrence of random low-level frauds and foibles.

[readmylips]

14. The well connected and rich win elections....

like the world-well connected bush dynasty. Those who make the rules and pay into the country club, wins the game. I stopped the illusion of US democracy, US middle class, US honor and play by the rules. They do not exist. Get over it. We are back to serfs and servants.

[Lizzie Borden]

15. I've been voting since 1972,

and I've never been asked for I.D.

[atommom]

16. I voted for the first time in my precinct, and expected to need

ID and proof of address. Nope, I was in the computer, so they waved me right in. It was convenient (and I HAD sent in a bank statement ahead of time as address verification), but, uh.... :eyes:

How ironic is it that the Russians are pointing out the holes in our democracy?

[fugue]

17. I was required to sign my name

I wasn't asked for any ID, but I was asked to sign my name. I suppose you could always compare the signatures on the voter rolls to verified copies of people's signatures, but that would only work to contest later, not to prevent illegal voting.

I'm in upstate NY, by the way.

[uppityperson]

19. not proud to be an American today

Make every vote count. Never surrender, never give in. bah

[dweller]

24. "Help is on the way"

NOT.


dp

[FreedomFry]

30. So why didn't he scream bloody murder if he was so shocked?

I suppose if he had, the media wouldn't have given it the space they did.

[Spangle]

21. Voter Reg card and ID needed here.

At least the ID. Then you have to tell your address. It has to match your id and the voter file.

Of course, they only use to ask in heavly minority pcts... But now they have to do it everywhere.

Florida

[UTUSN]

27. What------He Was Shocked That the B.F.E.E. are ANTI-Democracy? n/t