Thread: Obama Admin Warns Texas Not To Arrest UN Election Observers…

Obama Admin Warns Texas Not To Arrest UN Election Observers…



Nobody messes with the UN on Obama’s watch.

Via Beltway Confidential:

International election observers planning to visit Texas polling places have “full immunity” from being arrested in the United States, the State Department said when discussing a letter from the Texas Attorney General.

“I’m not going to get into any kind of hypothetical situations or predict where this is going to go other than to say we have every expectation that this will be worked out and to state the fact, which is that under U.S. law they are eligible for immunities,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Reporters tried to get her to state explicitly that Texas could not arrest election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), but Nuland would only reiterate that OSCE observers have full immunity.

Attorney General Greg Abbott, R-Texas, warned OSCE that it “may be a criminal offense for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance,” as The Hill noted.

Keep reading…

Obama Admin Warns Texas Not To Arrest UN Election Observers… | Weasel Zippers

State Dept: Texas can’t arrest international election observers

October 26, 2012 | 3:57 pm
183Comments
Joel Gehrke
Commentary Writer
The Washington Examiner
@JoelmentumJoel on FB

1. How Ohio could break for Romney
2. State Dept: Texas can’t arrest international election observers
3. Jeep, an Obama favorite, looks to shift production to China
4. October 'surprises' flop; White House race unchanged
5. Would Obama show his daughters 'Your first time?'

International election observers planning to visit Texas polling places have “full immunity” from being arrested in the United States, the State Department said when discussing a letter from the Texas Attorney General.

“I’m not going to get into any kind of hypothetical situations or predict where this is going to go other than to say we have every expectation that this will be worked out and to state the fact, which is that under U.S. law they are eligible for immunities,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. Reporters tried to get her to state explicitly that Texas could not arrest election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), but Nuland would only reiterate that OSCE observers have full immunity.

Attorney General Greg Abbott, R-Texas, warned OSCE that it “may be a criminal offense for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance,” as The Hill noted.

Nuland dismissed Abbott’s observation that OSCE consulted with Project Vote, a group that was affiliated with ACORN before that now-discredited organization collapsed under the weight of voter fraud charges.

“[I]f there are concerns that Texas authorities have, they have an opportunity through the direct dialogue that’s now going on in Texas with OSCE observers to take up their concerns,” she said. “But the mandate of the OSCE is designed to be absolutely and completely impartial, and that’s what we plan on when we participate and that’s what we’d expect here.”

State Dept: Texas can

Texas sparks international row with election observers

By Julian Pecquet
10/25/12 03:04 PM ET

Texas authorities have threatened to arrest international election observers, prompting a furious response from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“The threat of criminal sanctions against [international] observers is unacceptable,” Janez Lenarčič, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said in a statement. “The United States, like all countries in the OSCE, has an obligation to invite ODIHR observers to observe its elections.”

Lawmakers from the group of 56 European and Central Asian nations have been observing U.S. elections since 2002, without incident. Their presence has become a flashpoint this year, however, as Republicans accuse Democrats of voter fraud while Democrats counter that GOP-inspired voter ID laws aim to disenfranchise minority voters.Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott further fueled the controversy on Tuesday when he sent a letter to the OSCE warning the organization that its representatives “are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place” and that it “may be a criminal offense for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place's entrance.”

More from The Hill:
• GOP lawmaker: WH delaying pollution regs to get Obama reelected
• Obama supporters worry Romney win will kill parts of health law
• Boehner calls for answers from Obama on Benghazi attack
• Gallup poll: Romney maintains 3-point lead over Obama, 50-47
• Panetta criticizes ‘Monday-morning quarterbacking’ on Libya
• Obama voting early in Ill. as campaigns spar over early-voting edge

The letter goes on to accuse the group of having met with liberal organizations that oppose Voter ID laws. The OSCE put out an interim report last week saying that “recent state-level legislative initiatives to limit early voting and introduce stricter voter identification have become highly polarized.”

“The OSCE may be entitled to its opinions about Voter ID laws, but your opinion is legally irrelevant in the United States, where the Supreme Court has already determined that Voter ID laws are constitutional,” Abbott wrote. “If OSCE members want to learn more about our election processes so they can improve their own democratic systems, we welcome the opportunity to discuss the measures Texas has implemented to protect the integrity of elections. However, groups and individuals from outside the United States are not allowed to influence or interfere with the election process in Texas.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) also weighed in, tweeting “No UN monitors/inspectors will be part of any TX election process; I commend @Txsecofstate for swift action to clarify issue.”

In letters to Abbott and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose State Department invited the 44 election observers, Lenarčič reiterated that the group is only there to observe the elections.

“Our observers are required to remain strictly impartial and not to intervene in the voting process in any way,” Lenarčič said in a statement. “They are in the United States to observe these elections, not to interfere in them.”

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland sought to tone down the controversy during her briefing Thursday. The department is eager to avoid giving the impression that the United States is unwilling to submit to the same scrutiny it demands of others when it comes to human and civil rights.

“Since the initial issue with Texas we've received a letter, both for Secretary Clinton and one for Texas authorities, from the OSCE assuring us and Texas authorities that the OSCE observers are committed to following all U.S. laws and regulations as they do in any country where they observe elections and they will do so as well in Texas,” Nuland said. "To my knowledge [Texas] is the only state that came forward and said 'please reassure us that you're going to follow our state electoral law.' And they have now been reassured."

Texas sparks international row with election observers - The Hill's Global Affairs

Obama and the Democrat's want that Illegal Alien Vote and are using the U.N. to get it

United Nations should be kicked off US soil: US congressman


Republican congressman Connie Mack (file photo)

Sat Oct 27, 2012 8:59AM GMT

For years the United Nations has aggressively worked against the best interests of our country and many of our allies. The UN’s actions and intentions toward the United States have been nothing short of reprehensible."

Republican congressman Connie Mack


Republican congressman Connie Mack has called on the US administration to stop funding the United Nations, saying the world body should be “kicked off US soil.”

Connie, who is the representative for Florida’s 14th congressional district, condemned the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for its plan to send monitors to polling places across the United States on Election Day to monitor the event.

OSCE, which is registered as an NGO with the UN, will send 44 observers across America to monitor the voting centers. The organization was asked by American civil rights groups to monitor the election, after being warned of “a coordinated political effort to disenfranchise millions of Americans - particularly traditionally disenfranchised groups like minorities.”

The 45-year-old congressman stressed that the news should have outraged every American, because “the only ones who should ever oversee American elections are Americans.”

The Republican politician said that the idea that the UN “would be allowed, if not encouraged” to monitor the US election, “is nothing short of disgusting.”

“For years the United Nations has aggressively worked against the best interests of our country and many of our allies. The UN’s actions and intentions toward the United States have been nothing short of reprehensible," Connie added.

Connie is the Republican Senate nominee, running for 2012 US Senate election in Florida, which is scheduled be held alongside the 57th US presidential election on November 6.

SAB/MA

PressTV - United Nations should be kicked off US soil: US congressman

congressman Connie Mack should be thanked and commended for speaking out against this atrocity being conducted by liberal groups and the UN.

And under what authority does Barack Obama give these NGO groups immunity from American laws and the Rule of Law under the Constitution?

W

Only two words to the U.N. Observers..."Bring It".

And under what authority does Barack Obama give these NGO groups immunity from American laws and the Rule of Law under the Constitution?

Probably diplomatic immunity if they are indeed official representatives of the UN. However, that does not prevent Texas, or any other state from enforcing its laws regarding how far these so-called observers must be from the polls, nor does it keep them from being escorted away from the polling areas entirely if their actions warrant it. It merely keeps them out of jail.