Should we request UN assistance on this election? Seriously.

[Tigress DEM]

ALL I want from the UN is to put pressure on the monitoring agencies to do their jobs. We have all kinds of irregularities going on and not the kind of support for fair and transparent elections that we MUST have to get an honest election result.

We HAVE voting processes in place, we just need outside monitoring to make sure they work as they are supposed to with all the suppression going on.




http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/undpa/main/issues/elections/request_assistance


Requesting Assistance

The preconditions and guidelines for United Nations electoral assistance are described in General Assembly resolution A/49/675, under Annex III. Member States requesting assistance are advised of the following guidelines and procedures:

When to request?

Requests for assistance should be submitted in sufficient time, keeping in mind that many aspects of the electoral preparations cycle (eg. voter registration) take place months or even years before the election event. Normally a request made less than four months before election day cannot be accommodated.

Who can request?

Requests for electoral assistance must be made by an organ of the member state authorized to bind the state in agreements with the UN. National electoral management bodies do not normally have this authority, but their requests may sometimes be acceptable. Requests from political parties, civil society or other entities are not considered.

Where to submit a request?

Requests may be sent to the relevant United Nations Representative at the national or global level (the Secretary-General, her/his Special or Resident Representative, or the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs). All requests will be forwarded to the Focal Point for Electoral Assistance, who is the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.

How to request?

A formal written request for electoral assistance from an authorized authority of the requesting Member State to the United Nations is required.

The request should be as specific as possible about the period for which electoral assistance is required, to allow an accurate assessment of needs. The request should state the election event(s) for which the UN is requested to provide assistance.

What happens when a request is received?

The request is evaluated to determine whether the United Nations should provide assistance and, if so, what type of assistance.

Normally, the evaluation includes a needs assessment mission (NAM) to the country conducted by the Electoral Assistance Division. In some cases, a formal needs assessment mission may not be necessary if an alternative means of assessment is considered sufficient.

Based on the NAM report, the Focal Point for Electoral Assistance, decides whether the UN should provide support and what type of support to provide.

Following approval by the Focal Point, design and implementation of the proposed assistance is carried out by the relevant UN entity, in accordance with the NAM recommendations and with advice from the Electoral Assistance Division.

In order to ensure the consistency of UN electoral assistance, the Electoral Assistance Division provides expert and policy advise; receives and reviews reports; and collects experiences and lessons learned for future reference and adaptation as appropriate.

Mandated Assistance

While most assistance originates with a Member State request, United Nations electoral assistance may also be provided at the request of a UN governing body such as the Security Council or the General Assembly, as is often the case when peacekeeping or peace building missions are established with electoral components. However, even when mandated by these bodies, UN electoral assistance must also be agreed to by the relevant Member State. In those cases, a needs assessment mission conducted by EAD submits recommendations for a decision on the UN electoral support.

[Zoeisright]

1. I'd like to see that.

[Tigress DEM]

23. According to posts 3, 6 & 7 we will. Go figure.

[flamingdem]

2. Be careful the right wing is using this against us around the

interwebs.

[Tigress DEM]

22. The right wing would use dental floss against US if no other weapon were available. Whatever.

We CAN'T let THEM dictate the terms of what we do or don't do. It will make us as completely insane as they are.

THIS is the process, bud. AND there are 44 UN Observers scheduled per posts 3, 6 & 7.

Being DEMs we follow the legal process to get our rights respected up to the top and beyond if necessary.

EVERY VOTE COUNTS. So EVERY VOTE SHOULD BE COUNTED. Period.

I told someone further down the posts:

The ONES who should be embarrassed are the ones trying to steal the election.

The ONES who should be embarrassed are OUR elected officials denying US our DUE Process.

The ONES who should be embarrassed are the pansies who can't win an election without cheating.

I STOOD AT THE BACK OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND SHOUTED AT *USH WITH A THOUSAND+ OTHER AMERICANS -
"THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING!!"

I marched with THOUSANDS on DC against the War in IRAQ.

I wasn't embarrassed then; I'm not embarrassed now.

THIS IS MY COUNTRY AND I WANT IT BACK. No ****ing sleezeball in a suit, lackey for Rove or computer programmer is going to steal my vote or my country's election if I have anything to say about it.... and I got lots to say.

IF we have to drag the UN into it to get a FAIR election, then fine. All we want is a fair fight. A chance to duke it out in the voting booths and let the best man win. We know who that is, but if we're willing to go to the polls to make it happen they should be too.

They backed the wrong candidate and the wrong party and the wrong agenda. Not my problem. THEY should be embarrassed. NOT ME and not ANY DEM.

[niyad]

3. according to another thread here on DU, the UN will, in fact, be sending observers.

will look for the post for you

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251161423

[Doodler71]

7. According to The Hill, the UN will be sending monitors

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014274862

[Tigress DEM]

14. Yeah!!!

I think we ARE having as many or more problems as many emerging Democracies have.

I did send an email to Susan Rice the UN Ambassador and apologized in advance because I'm really upset about this. I used all caps in one portion.

I said in part, but did not copy before I mailed it that "The US is supposed to be a model of Democracy, can we get some please?"

[Overseas]

24. Exactly. So glad they decided to do that. We want the world to see what the Republicans are doing.

[Bjorn Against]

4. I fully agree that it needs to happen, unfortunately it won't happen this year

If people make enough noise it could happen in a future election, but until there are widespread protests there is no way the powers that be will allow the UN to monitor our elections.

[niyad]

5. see post 3

[Bjorn Against]

8. Interesting, I did not expect this at all but it looks like good news

I don't know how much only 44 election monitors across the entire nation can do, but it is certainly better than nothing.

[Doodler71]

6. They are coming - UN sending election monitors

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/263141-international-monitors-at-polling-places-draw-criticism-from-voter-fraud-group

United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week. The intervention has drawn criticism from a prominent conservative-leaning group combating election fraud.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner on democratization and human rights projects, will deploy 44 observers from its human rights office around the country on Election Day to monitor an array of activities, including potential disputes at polling places. It's part of a broader observation mission that will send out an additional 80 to 90 members of parliament from nearly 30 countries.



Liberal-leaning civil rights groups met with representatives from the OSCE this week to raise their fears about what they say are systematic efforts to suppress minority voters likely to vote for President Obama.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP and the ACLU, among other groups, warned this month in a letter to Daan Everts, a senior official with OSCE, of “a coordinated political effort to disenfranchise millions of Americans — particularly traditionally disenfranchised groups like minorities.”

[Tigress DEM]

15. Happy Dance!

[man4allcats]

9. I think that's a great idea. After all,

we're not doing so well on our own, and given the significance of the U.S. in international relations, it is more than a little important that our elections are above board. That's not to say that legitimate elections aren't important for any country. They surely are. It's just that the U.S. is considered a gold standard. If our political processes are corrupt, what is left? Thanks for posting this excellent suggestion.

[Tigress DEM]

16. Someone else here on DU mentioned it, then I ran with it, but looks like someone beat me to it!

According to posts 3, 7 & 6.

[Politicalboi]

10. This is what happens when

The GOP try and steal elections. The world was hurt the last time it happened. I hope this comes up in tomorrows debate.

[Tigress DEM]

20. Maybe they'll just take Robme away in handcuffs.

I know I'm dreaming, but I couldn't resist.

HELL of an October Surprise THAT would be though?!

[quinnox]

11. that would be embarrassing because

America is supposed to be the leader of the free world. So it will never happen. This kind of OP is a type of fodder for the right wing, I gotta say I agree with the other reply that said this.

[Tigress DEM]

19. I don't think we should let "embarrassment" stop US from getting FAIR Elections.

THIS is the process, bud. AND there are 44 UN Observers scheduled per posts 3, 6 & 7.

Being DEMs we follow the legal process to get our rights respected up to the top and beyond if necessary.

EVERY VOTE COUNTS. So EVERY VOTE SHOULD BE COUNTED. Period.


The ONES who should be embarrassed are the ones trying to steal the election.

The ONES who should be embarrassed are the elected officials denying US our DUE Process.

The ONES who should be embarrassed are the pansies who can't win an election without cheating.

I STOOD AT THE BACK OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND SHOUTED AT *USH WITH A THOUSAND+ OTHER AMERICANS -
"THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING!!"

I marched with THOUSANDS on DC against the War in IRAQ.

I wasn't embarrassed then; I'm not embarrassed now.

THIS IS MY COUNTRY AND I WANT IT BACK. No ****ing sleezeball in a suit, lackey for Rove or computer programmer is going to steal my vote or my country's election if I have anything to say about it.... and I got lots to say.

IF we have to drag the UN into it to get a FAIR election, then fine. All we want is a fair fight. A chance to duke it out in the voting booths and let the best man win. We know who that is, but if we're willing to go to the polls to make it happen they should be too.

They backed the wrong candidate and the wrong party and the wrong agenda. Not my problem. THEY should be embarrassed. NOT ME and not ANY DEM.

[quinnox]

21. good response

[Hutzpa]

12. Because of the republican party allowing criminals to take over their party

based on greed, they're here, as it has been pointed out on posts above.

[Skip Intro]

13. Hell no.

The US can conduct its own elections.

Inviting a third party into the mix would erode our sovereignty.

If it is a tight race and Obama wins, we'll say "yay the system works."

If it is a tight race and Romney wins, we'll say "they cheated."

In no eventuality should we put another nation or some entity in a position of passing judgement on us. That would be a long, dark road to traverse, with a scary outcome all but assured.

[niyad]

25. please tell me you are kidding, because it has been clear at least since 2000 that we CANNOT

conduct our own elections.

and, if that is the way you feel, how do you feel about observers at the elections in other sovereign nations?

[Skip Intro]

26. Apples and oranges.

Having our observers, in conjunction with UN observers, in developing nations or nations that are in a state of flux is one thing.

Having the UN "observe" our elections is something different.

In doing that, we cede some part of ourselves.

I don't like it.

[niyad]

28. apples and oranges? wow--address the issues of the voter suppression efforts in this country

and don't pretend we are any better than some developing countries

[IDemo]

17. Absolutely

Despite a wealth of evidence of election tampering and voter suppression, the silence from the media, the DOJ and both major parties has been positively chilling. The US needs a wake-up slap to begin paying attention to this problem.

[onenote]

18. Who is we?

The Obama administration? Are you kidding? You think that would play well among the electorate? Really?

[former-republican]

27. Hell no

How about some blue helmets also walking around.