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| -Election 2012 |
| Iowa to Int'l Election Observers - GTFO |
| 2012-10-31 |
| Iowa has joined Texas in warning international election observers of possible criminal prosecution if they violate state laws and get near polling places on Election Day. Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz — like Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott last week — on Tuesday threatened Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe election observers with arrest if they came within 300 feet of a polling place’s entrance, in violation of state law. (In Texas, it’s 100 feet.) “My office met with two delegation representatives last week to discuss Iowa’s election process, and it was explained to them that they are not permitted at the polls,” Schultz said in a statement. “Iowa law is very specific about who is permitted at polling places, and there is no exception for members of this group.” The OSCE — comprised of 56 countries, including the United States — is chiefly a crisis mediation and conflict resolution group in Europe, Asia and North America. Since 2002, the organization’s poll watchers have observed six U.S. elections, without incident, said Janez Lenari, the OSCE’s director for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Lenari wrote, “The threat of criminal sanctions against OSCE/ODIHR observers is unacceptable. The United States, like all countries in the OSCE, has an obligation to invite ODIHR observers to observe its elections.” Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokesman, said last week the group assured Texas authorities and the State Department that observers will respect Texas laws. “To my knowledge, [Texas] is the only state that came forward and said ‘please reassure us that you’re going to follow our state electoral law.’ And they have now been reassured,” Nuland said. |
| Posted by:Raj |
| #10 I think I shed a small tear of joy for my state. |
| Posted by: Charles 2012-10-31 23:23 |
| #9 Come on down to Ward 4 in Quincy - I'll give ya a personal tour of Wollaston Harbor! |
| Posted by: Raj 2012-10-31 22:52 |
| #8 Europeans are always getting their asses kicked, twice during the past 90 years, and now their economy is like water in a bath tub: steep decline, stagnation, then down the drain due to socialist corruption. And now they are coming to the United States hoping that watching Americans vote gives them some sense of legitimacy. Losers... |
| Posted by: Thrert Creresh3656 2012-10-31 22:50 |
| #7 Forgive us, EC. The letters U N make a lot of Americans rather twitchy. Was not always like that. My junior high school shop teacher once gave an impassioned speech about how the UN was the last, best hope of Mankind. Quite remarkable since he usually just yelled and threatened us. This was back in the Jurassic Era when U Thant was Secetary General (if memory serves). Times have changed. Since then, we have seen Arafat armed with a pistol in the General Assembly, child-molesting peace keepers, the egregious Human Rights Council... I could go on, but basically the UN has turned into the Villains, Thieves and Scoundrels Union. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2012-10-31 22:47 |
| #6 The obligation is just to invite them, not the breaking of local laws to accommodate them. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2012-10-31 21:13 |
| #5 But I gotta say that the weenie boy's "you MUST do this" attitude is really pissing me off. Walk into my office with that attitude and I'd tell you to fuck off too.. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2012-10-31 21:03 |
| #4 the food is better here. And cheaper. Ditto for the VAT-less shopping. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2012-10-31 20:50 |
| #3 One of the reasons the OSCE observers go to the U.S. as well is that it makes their life easier in less democratic states since they can always say: Look, we do even watch the U.S. elections... |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2012-10-31 20:42 |
| #2 I think my girl from Planet fYROM had Iowa... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2012-10-31 19:58 |
| #1 Since 2002, the organizationÂ’s poll watchers have observed six U.S. elections Why? Drunk/car keys/light pole + the food is better here. |
| Posted by: Thusort Ebbomoting1144 2012-10-31 17:11 |