By Jimmy Carter
Monday, September 27, 2004; Page
A19 Wash.Post
After the debacle in Florida four
years ago, former president Gerald Ford and I were asked to lead a blue-ribbon commission
to recommend changes in the American electoral process. After months of concerted effort
by a dedicated and bipartisan group of experts, we presented unanimous recommendations to
the president and Congress. The government responded with the Help America Vote Act of
October 2002. Unfortunately, however, many of the act's key provisions have not been
implemented because of inadequate funding or political disputes.
The disturbing fact is that a
repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems likely, even as many other nations are
conducting elections that are internationally certified to be transparent, honest and
fair.
The Carter Center has monitored
more than 50 elections, all of them held under contentious, troubled or dangerous
conditions. When I describe these activities, either in the United States or in foreign
forums, the almost inevitable questions are: "Why don't you observe the election in
Florida?" and "How do you explain the serious problems with elections
there?"
The answer to the first question is
that we can monitor only about five elections each year, and meeting crucial needs in
other nations is our top priority. (Our most recent ones were in Venezuela and Indonesia,
and the next will be in Mozambique.) A partial answer to the other question is that some
basic international requirements for a fair election are missing in Florida.
The most significant of these
requirements are:
• A nonpartisan electoral
commission or a trusted and nonpartisan official who will be responsible for organizing
and conducting the electoral process before, during and after the actual voting takes
place. Although rarely perfect in their objectivity, such top administrators are at least
subject to public scrutiny and responsible for the integrity of their decisions. Florida
voting officials have proved to be highly partisan, brazenly violating a basic need for an
unbiased and universally trusted authority to manage all elements of the electoral
process.
• Uniformity in voting
procedures, so that all citizens, regardless of their social or financial status, have
equal assurance that their votes are cast in the same way and will be tabulated with equal
accuracy. Modern technology is already in use that makes electronic voting possible, with
accurate and almost immediate tabulation and with paper ballot printouts so all voters can
have confidence in the integrity of the process. There is no reason these proven
techniques, used overseas and in some U.S. states, could not be used in Florida.
It was obvious that in 2000 these
basic standards were not met in Florida, and there are disturbing signs that once again,
as we prepare for a presidential election, some of the state's leading officials hold
strong political biases that prevent necessary reforms.
Four years ago, the top election
official, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, was also the co-chair of the
Bush-Cheney state campaign committee. The same strong bias has become evident in her
successor, Glenda Hood, who was a highly partisan elector for George W. Bush in 2000.
Several thousand ballots of African Americans were thrown out on technicalities in 2000,
and a fumbling attempt has been made recently to disqualify 22,000 African Americans
(likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics (likely Republicans), as alleged felons.
The top election official has also
played a leading role in qualifying Ralph Nader as a candidate, knowing that two-thirds of
his votes in the previous election came at the expense of Al Gore. She ordered Nader's
name be included on absentee ballots even before the state Supreme Court ruled on the
controversial issue.
Florida's governor, Jeb Bush,
naturally a strong supporter of his brother, has 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. It is especially objectionable
among us Americans, who have prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure
democracy. 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.
Former president Carter is
chairman of the Carter Center in Atlanta. |
Zell
Miller's Introduction of Senator John Kerry to the Democratic Party of Georgia's
Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on March 1, 2001
http://miller.senate.gov/speeches/030101jjdinner.htm
"It is good to be back in
Georgia and to be with you. I have been coming to these dinners since the 1950s, and have
missed very few.
I'm proud to be Georgia's junior
senator and I'm honored to serve with Max Cleland, who is as loved and respected as anyone
in that body. One of our very highest priorities must be to make sure this man is
re-elected in 2002 so he can continue to serve this state and nation.
I continue to be impressed with all
that Governor Barnes and Lieutenant Governor Taylor and the Speaker and the General
Assembly are getting done over at the Gold Dome. Georgia is fortunate to have this kind of
leadership.
My job tonight is an easy one: to
present to you one of this nation's authentic heroes, one of this party's best-known and
greatest leaders – and a good friend.
He was once a lieutenant governor
– but he didn't stay in that office 16 years, like someone else I know. It just took
two years before the people of Massachusetts moved him into the United States Senate in
1984.
In his 16 years in the Senate, John
Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to
Washington.
Early in his Senate career in 1986,
John signed on to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Bill, and he fought for
balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for Democrats to do so.
John has worked to strengthen our
military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment. Business
Week magazine named him one of the top pro-technology legislators and made him a member of
its "Digital Dozen."
John was re-elected in 1990 and again in 1996 – when he defeated popular Republican
Governor William Weld in the most closely watched Senate race in the country.
John is a graduate of Yale
University and was a gunboat officer in the Navy. He received a Silver Star, Bronze Star
and three awards of the Purple Heart for combat duty in Vietnam. He later co-founded the
Vietnam Veterans of America.
He is married to Teresa Heinz and
they have two daughters.
As many of you know, I have great
affection – some might say an obsession – for my two Labrador retrievers, Gus
and Woodrow. It turns out John is a fellow dog lover, too, and he better be. His German
Shepherd, Kim, is about to have puppies. And I just want him to know … Gus and
Woodrow had nothing to do with that.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please
welcome Senator John Kerry."
The following is the text of President Jimmy Carter's letter to Zell
Miller which arrived at Miller's office on Tuesday, 09/07/2004
"You seem to have forgotten
that loyal Democrats elected you as mayor and as state senator. Loyal Democrats, including
members of my family and me, elected you as lieutenant governor and as governor. It was a
loyal Democrat, Lester Maddox, who assigned you to high positions in the state government
when you were out of office. It was a loyal Democrat, Roy Barnes, who appointed you as
U.S. Senator when you were out of office. By your historically unprecedented disloyalty,
you have betrayed our trust.
Great Georgia Democrats who served
in the past, including Walter George, Richard Russell, Herman Talmadge, and Sam Nunn
disagreed strongly with the policies of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy,
Lyndon Johnson, and me, but they remained loyal to the party in which they gained their
public office. Other Democrats, because of philosophical differences or the race issue,
like Bo Callaway and Strom Thurmond, at least had the decency to become Republicans.
Everyone knows that you were chosen
to speak at the Republican Convention because of your being a "Democrat," and
it's quite possible that your rabid and mean-spirited speech damaged our party and paid
the Republicans some transient dividends.
Perhaps more troublesome of all is
seeing you adopt an established and very effective Republican campaign technique of
destroying the character of opponents by wild and false allegations. The Bush campaign's
personal attacks on the character of John McCain in South Carolina in 2000 was a vivid
example. The claim that war hero Max Cleland was a disloyal American and an ally of Osama
bin Laden should have given you pause, but you have joined in this ploy by your bizarre
claims that another war hero, John Kerry, would not defend the security of our nation
except with spitballs. (This is the same man whom you described previously as "one of
this nation's authentic heroes, one of this party's best-known and greatest leaders —
and a good friend.")
I, myself, never claimed to have
been a war hero, but I served in the navy from 1942 to 1953, and, as president, greatly
strengthened our military forces and protected our nation and its interests in every way.
I don't believe this warrants your referring to me as a pacifist.
Zell, I have known you for
forty-two years and have, in the past, respected you as a trustworthy political leader and
a personal friend. But now, there are many of us loyal Democrats who feel uncomfortable in
seeing that you have chosen the rich over the poor, unilateral preemptive war over a
strong nation united with others for peace, lies and obfuscation over the truth, and the
political technique of personal character assassination as a way to win elections or to
garner a few moments of applause. These are not the characteristics of great Democrats
whose legacy you and I have inherited.
Sincerely and with deepest regrets,
Jimmy Carter" |
