Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday September 28, 2004
The Guardian
Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has said Florida lacks "some basic international requirements for a fair election" and a repeat of the 2000 election fiasco "seems likely".
Mr Carter said reforms recommended after the recount in Florida had still not been implemented "because of inadequate funding or political disputes".
Mr Carter, who runs an election and human rights centre in Atlanta, accused election officials working for Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, the president's brother, of being "highly partisan".
They were "brazenly violating a basic need for an unbiased and universally trusted authority to manage all elements of the electoral process".
"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," Mr Carter writes in a commentary reprinted in today's Guardian.
...
Mr Carter argues the right to uniform, reliable voting procedures is a requirements for a fair election by international standards. However, he writes: "There are disturbing signs that once again ... some of the state's leading officials hold strong political biases that prevent necessary reforms."
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