Jon Christian Ryter -- The Global Test on Voting

THE GLOBAL TEST ON VOTING

By Jon Christian Ryter

October 10, 2004

NewsWithViews.com

In a press conference held in New York on October 7, Ms. Undur Gunnarsdottir, spokeswoman for the 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)�a United Nations group that monitors free elections to make sure that corrupt governments do not attempt to manipulate the elective process in third world and nations emerging from dictatorial rule�announced that because of a request they received in July from 10 US congressional legislators, the OSCE would send as many as 100 UN observers to the United States to monitor America's presidential election on Nov. 2. Gunnarsdottir said that OSCE decided to send observers to safeguard the election, saying that irregularities with voting machines and election procedures could jeopardize American confidence in the outcome of the election, noting that "weaknesses and vulnerabilities" could compromise the voting results and could possibly delay the outcome of the election. At the moment it appears the only thing delayed is the money needed to pay for the UN observers which, according to the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-102) will come out of the pockets of the American taxpayers. Beginning in the last week of October, 100 UN observers will begin to fan out across the country, ready to respond to the Democrat's cries of "foul" in most of the battleground States.

On July 1, ten U.S. House Democrats led by Texas Congress-woman Eddie Bernice Johnson sent a letter to UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan asking that the UN send election observers to monitor the presidential election on Nov. 2 because they were "...deeply concerned that the right of US citizens to vote in a free and fair election is again in jeopardy."

The letter went on to say they believed that not only were Florida minorities not given the right to vote in 2000, but that Black voters everywhere in the country were 10 times more likely than non-black voters to have their ballots rejected.

Signing the letter in addition to Johnson were: Corrine Brown [D-FL]; Julia Carson [D-IN]; Joseph Crowley [D-NY]; Elijah Cummings [D-MD]; Danny Davis [D-IL]; Raul Grijalva [D-AZ]; Michael Honda [D-CA]; Carolyn Maloney [D-NY] and Jerrold Nadler [D-NY]. It is interesting that in their petition to the UN, one of the reasons given by the 10 Congressmen and women is that the Federal Election Commission would not order the States to restore voting rights to convicted felons. All of these members of Congress must be voted out of office in November when America votes simply because none of them apparently understand the Constitution under which we live, and by which we are governed. The United States of America does not give international bodies jurisdiction over the conduct of the American people. That is, after all, why we fought the Revolutionary War. Americans who wish to be governed by the UN need to move to Europe. In their letter, the Democratic petitioners asked the UN to assume the role of final arbitrator in the election�rather than the US Supreme Court�should the 2004 election end up deadlocked like the Election of 2000. By doing so, they have placed a global test on the American election of 2004�and they have also succeeded in putting a global test on the office of President of the United States. If we must now pass a "global test" to elect our leader, why should we not have to pass a global test for that president to conduct the foreign policy of the United States of America? Think about that when you cast your vote this year not only for the office of President, but also for the members of the House and Senate who seem all too eager to surrender our sovereignty to Europe. The United States of America cannot surrender its right to govern itself although Europe is eagerly waiting to regain control of its wayward colonies.

A week after 5 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, one Hispanic, one Asian-American and three extremist liberals asked the UN to place a global test on the American electoral process, the then presumptive Democratic nominee, John Kerry, chided the Bush Administration for calling him a pessimist about this nation's ability to conduct a fair and honest election without the international community looking over our shoulder, saying: "Don't tell us that disenfranchising a million African Americans and stealing their votes is the best we can do. This time not only will every vote count�we're going to make sure that every vote is counted." At that time, with ten members of Congress prepared to take the heat, it appears that Kerry and the DNC were already carefully crafting the final details of the "global test" that would determine how the voting in America would take place on Nov. 2�and which votes could, and would, be counted or recounted, whichever the case may be, with the United Nations and the global community acting as the final election arbitrators�not the Federal Election Commission or the US Supreme Court, which has always been the final arbitrator of legal issues in America. Today, the Democrats want to internationalize the elective process in the United States�a global test, if you will, on the legitimacy of our elections.

A week ago, the Vienna, Austria-based OSCE issued their list of concerns about the American election. Their list included voter intimidation (based on the fact that during the Election of 2000, the Florida Highway Patrol had set up coordinated traffic stops throughout the city of Tallahassee on the evening of November 7, 2000 as part of a regular, routine highway patrol safety program that it had nothing to do with the election. One of the traffic stops was apparently located 2.1 miles from a polling precinct in Tallahassee. The poorly-timed routine program was construed by Jesse Jackson and the NAACP as a well-strategized Bush Brothers conspiracy to keep African Americans from electing Al Gore as the 43rd President of the United States). When the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights completed its probe of the Florida election, Governor Jeb Bush reported that "...after three days of hearings involving over 100 witnesses, the Civil Rights Commission [was not] presented with any evidence of intentional discrimination in the conduct of the November 7, 2000 election in Florida." Mary Frances Berry, who chaired the Civil Rights Commission, believed it existed. She just couldn't find any, but that did not stop her from believing it was there. "We know there were barriers to people voting," she said. "What we don't know is whether those barriers were the result of discrimination or knuckle-headedness." What she meant was that all of the instances of what could be construed as discrimination against blacks all occurred in heavily Democratic precincts where those controlling the voting booths should have accepted any black voter�even those who had assumed the identities of dead white voters. Much to her dismay, she found no instances of discrimination perpetuated on blacks by Republicans.

In addition to watching for voter intimidation, the UN observers will be checking illegally purged voter rolls (where convicted felons were struck from the voting rosters in 2000 since, in most States felons surrender their right to vote. Purging may accidentally de-register people with the same name who have done nothing wrong and have no criminal record. Dozens of such incidents of wrongful purging did occur in Florida in 2000 and, very likely, in other States as well). However, in Florida, everyone whose name was purged was sent a letter advising them if they had not been convicted of a crime they would be restored to the voting roster. All that was necessary was for them to show they were not the felon who was named on the purge. In Florida, these letters were sent out at least six months before the election, providing ample time for any voter to be reinstated to the voting roster.

Most important, the OSCE will demand that all people who want to vote be allowed to vote�even if they are not registered to vote, or even if they can't prove they are citizens of the United States (who are, constitutionally, the only people entitled to vote). The argument advanced by the Democrats is that rather than forbid a person from voting, the ballot can be be challenged after the voting is over. Of course, after the votes are cast and counted, how does an arbitrator determine who the challenged voter cast his or her ballot for since, in our society, all ballots are cast in secret?

Inviting the OSCE to be the final arbitrator of an American election is tantamount to conceding to the Democrats everything Al Gore attempted to steal in 2000 without a fight�and giving the international community the power to overrule the American electorate and to select the next President of the United States by allowing the OSCE to demand that non-citizens should have a right to vote based entirely on the fact that they are affected by decisions made by the President�even if they reside here illegally.

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Jon Christian Ryter is the pseudonym of a former newspaper reporter with the Parkersburg, WV Sentinel. He authored a syndicated newspaper column, Answers From The Bible, from the mid-1970s until 1985. Answers From The Bible was read weekly in many suburban markets in the United States.

Today, Jon is an advertising executive with the Washington Times. His website, www.jonchristianryter.com has helped him establish a network of mid-to senior-level Washington insiders who now provide him with a steady stream of material for use both in his books and in the investigative reports that are found on his website. E-Mail: BAFFauthor@aol.com

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