Carter (a veteran observer of polls worldwide) speaking about Florida

[Klaus]

BBC News

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".

...

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."

 

[A_Wanderer]

He also recently announced that his two favourite movies are Cassablanca and Farenheit 9/11.

 

[sharky]

I'm telling you -- Florida will not be the only state that's a mess. There are going to be issues with these new computers. Someone asked for the computer files for the 2002 Fla. governor's race and was told someone in the Fla. elections office "accidentally erased the files" as in they will NEVER be available to see Dem./Rep. breakdowns by county or simple who really won. It's scary.

Diebold is a scary operation. they can make ATMs that print out receipts but not ballot machines? and last week a group was at the DC Press Club showing journalists how easy it is to break into these things. I'm so glad in NYC we still have the old lever machines. At least those have been proven to be reliable.

 

[nbcrusader]

Soon we will long for the days of reliable punch card ballots. Computer based elections will always be under suspision. Hackers are better than the companies that make the voting equipment.

 

[pax]

I think nbc is on to something. Is the convenience of computer voting really worth the insecurity of the systems? I also wonder if maybe the ol' paper ballots aren't just as, or more, reliable.

 

[hiphop]

Unless you reform it, you´ll have to live with this system. Since the last election was under suspicion to be faked, I have no shadow of a doubt that it can easily happen again (especially in Florida with Jeb).

On a side note, interesting that its Diebold. Anyone read the Diebold papers about digital distribution..

I don´t understand why a computer system (or stamping machines for that matter). Here, everyone makes a simple X on a paper. Those are counted and that´s about it.

 

[Klaus]

Using Computers for counting the votes is a good idea, it's just scary that Gambling machines are controlled much more detailed and efficently than these machines.

 

[Scarletwine]

Jeez a thread that NBC didn't give a one liner too.
Seriously this is scary no matter what party you are from.

I live in OH and our Sec of State _ a Rep - moved to outlaw non-papertrail voting machines. So now we are not using them. More surprising (OT) the Att general outlawed our admendment to the OH constitution against Gay Marriage as being too unconstitutional.

 

[verte76]

This stuff scares me, too, and I'm sure people of all political persuasions are scared because it's the worst thing when there's a doubt factor in an election. No matter what you thought of Florida 2000, it was an undesirable situation because it led to widespread allegations that the president hadn't been elected, but, rather, selected, and it was bad that so many citizens had those sentiments. I don't want this to happen again. I think we should go back to punch-cards or at least use paper ballots. We still use paper ballots in Alabama, and I'm glad. I don't like these computerized thingies at all.

 

[nbcrusader]

Jeez a thread that NBC didn't give a one liner too.

Cute

 

[Caroni]

I just have one thing to say:

DON´T TRUST CARTER OR CARTER CENTER

DON´T TRUST CARTER OR CARTER CENTER

DON´T TRUST CARTER OR CARTER CENTER

HE IS NOBEL PRIZE OF PEACE NOT JUSTICE OR LAWS OR POLLS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

They said that the elections in Venezuela were rigth and there was no fraud, but the truth is that nobody trust in those results

SO PLEASE

DON´T TRUST CARTER OR CARTER CENTER
DON´T TRUST CARTER OR CARTER CENTER
DON´T TRUST CARTER OR CARTER CENTER




EDIT TO SAY: They suportted elections in Perú were Fujimori won with fraud REMEMBER

 

[sharky]

wow, if that's what Carter endorses, imagine how much WORSE it is to have him say things are bad here.