Lawmakers, Group Invite International Monitors to Observe U.S.

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, July 8, 2004

Contact: Jason Mark, 415-558-9490
or jason@globalexchange.org

Calls for International Monitoring of U.S. Elections Multiply

Members of Congress Call on U.N. to Send Observers as Human Rights Group Publishes Appeal in International Papers

At Least 28 Independent Monitors Already Slated to Come to U.S. This Fall

Appeals from U.S. citizens to the international community to come to the United States this fall to monitor the elections are growing in number. On Thursday, a dozen Members of Congress will hold a news conference to discuss their appeal to the United Nations to send election monitors to the U.S. Also on Thursday, newspapers in Tokyo, Mexico City and Dublin are set to publish an open letter from the human rights group Global Exchange announcing plans to bring at least 28 monitors to the U.S. this fall.

The appeals from public interest organizations and elected officials show that many Americans are concerned about whether every citizen¹s vote will be counted. The calls also point to a growing consensus that independent, international election monitoring can help build confidence in the U.S. electoral system.

³Our experience monitoring elections in 10 countries around the world has shown that the presence of non-governmental observers can help boost public confidence in electoral processes,² says Ted Lewis, director of the Fair Elections project at the human rights group Global Exchange, a non-partisan organization.

Global Exchange has plans in place to host at least 28 independent, international monitors in the U.S. as part of its Fair Elections initiative. The monitors will apply internationally developed standards of electoral fairness to investigate and report on issues of concern to the U.S. electorate. In an op-ed to be published Thursday in Tokyo¹s Asahi Shimbun, The Irish Independent, and Mexico City¹s La Jornada, Global Exchange asks those professionally prepared to become election monitors to fill out an application at www.fairelection.us.

The Fair Elections initiative will host independent monitors in two stages. A 20-person delegation will monitor pre-electoral conditions in the U.S. September 14-26, and then an eight-person delegation will return to the U.S. during the week preceding the November 2 election. In mid-October the first delegation will release a report detailing its conclusions and offering recommendations. The monitors will conduct their investigation through a variety of methods, including interviews with experts and electoral officials; evaluation of data on registration rates, registry purging and felon disenfranchisement; comparative evaluation of various voting technologies; and informal yet structured meetings with a range of ordinary citizens. The monitors are scheduled to travel to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio and Washington, D.C.

To learn more, please visit www.fairelection.us or contact Jason Mark at
415-558-9490.