UN To Monitor Our Elections?

I have recently received many emails, letters, and phone calls about rumors of the United Nations monitoring our November 6th elections. This concerned me, as I am sure it did you, so I looked into this issue further.

As you know, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a group that is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations, is scheduled to monitor the 2012 United States presidential and congressional elections on November 6, 2012. According to the OSCE, approximately 44 people from over a dozen countries, including a dozen people from countries that have their own issues with elections, such as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, will be monitoring presidential and congressional elections across the United States. Many of these countries are ranked as either "not free" or "partly free" by Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization that measures democratic elections and freedoms of countries around the world.

The OSCE has been invited to monitor the United States elections by both the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in response to arguments that state photo identification laws for registration or voting constitute a voting suppression of minority voters.

It is my understanding that OSCE election monitors will NOT be watching the polls in Tennessee. Instead, it will be concentrating its efforts on the voting in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Texas, and Wisconsin.

This is concerning on many fronts. Specifically, state laws in Texas, Iowa and many other states forbid individuals from entering into polling places. These state laws must be upheld. I am concerned the United Nations or the OSCE believes that they have the authority to monitor any United States election.

This is yet another example of the United Nations attempting to interfere with the sovereignty of the United States and its people. In addition, it is the height of hypocrisy for any folks to judge the integrity of United States' elections when they are from a country that has no history of free and open elections, such as in Belarus or Kazakhstan. Those who have never experienced free elections should never criticize those countries who exercise their basic voting rights.

If you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact me at one of the offices on the right side of this page.

Sincerely,

Stephen L. Fincher