Posted on 10/25/2012 8:05:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
AUSTIN – State Attorney General Greg Abbott's admonition that international election observers – part of what the Texas Secretary of State's office called a long-standing exchange program to promote learning – could be criminally prosecuted if they overstep Texas law was deemed "unacceptable" by the group's director.
The flap was prompted when Abbott wrote a letter to Ambassador Daan Everts at the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The Republican attorney general, in a press release announcing the letter, noted the group is "a United Nations partner." Some conservatives and tea party groups have been vocal in their suspicion toward the United Nations.
Abbott said in the letter that the ambassador reportedly had met "with a group of organizations that have filed lawsuits challenging election integrity laws enacted by the Texas Legislature," including Project Vote, which he described as being "closely affiliated with ACORN."
Abbott wrote that Project Vote and other organizations had said in a letter to Everts that OSCE had identified Voter ID laws as a barrier to voting rights, urging the organization to monitor states that had enacted them.
"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.
Texas' Voter ID law has been blocked by a federal three-judge panel, citing its effect on the poor, racial minorities and Latinos.
Abbott concluded his letter by saying the Texas Election Code governs all election participants; that the organization's representatives are not authorized 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
I love my ballsy state!
I love my ballsy state!
Thank goodness someone in office has some cojones - now lets see him carry through with it if the do!
Texas forever!
The UN should be evicted from the US and setup to operate from Gaza City or Khartoum.
I volunteer to personally cuff ‘em and throw ‘em in the slammer.
What are the other states? I remember Des Moines was on the list, but I forgot the others. Have any other Sec. Of State complained? I haven’t seen anything in the Iowa news about this.
Harare, Zimbabwe is the most appropriate "revised" venue.
Damn Straight!!! Skippy!!!!!
Those people are NOT above the law. Good job.
I think Alabama did too
They’re supposed to be in AZ, too.
Hope Carter is in with that mess and jailed.
They would feel so much more at home in Sana’a, Yemen.
Abbott for Governor 2014.....
I hope if there is a showdown here David Dewhurst stays out of it. Texas was going to stand up to TSA at one time too until Dewhurst stepped in and neutered the effort and Texas backed down.
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