Texas Attorney General Warns International Election Observers

First time accepted submitter mescobal writes "Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott warned international election observers not to come closer than 100 feet from a polling place; otherwise, they could be subject to criminal prosecution. The warning was addressed to a group of international observers who intend to monitor polls. The OSCE, an UN affiliated organization of observers, was concerned about voter ID issues among other things. From the article: '“The Texas Election Code governs anyone who participates in Texas elections — including representatives of the OSCE,” Abbott wrote. “The OSCE’s representatives are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place. It may be a criminal offense for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance. Failure to comply with these requirements could subject the OSCE’s representatives to criminal prosecution for violating state law.”'"

Comments

Europeans, beware!

[Anonymous Coward]

Chuck "Walker" Norris himself will watch over this and will roundhouse-kick you until you learn to respect democracy!

Re:Europeans, beware!

[FauxReal]

Chuck "Walker" Norris himself will watch over this and will roundhouse-kick you until you learn to respect democracy!

He's just doing his part to prevent "1000 years of darkness".

Re:Europeans, beware!

[daem0n1x]

But, but, how will the international observers comply to these demand? They don't know how much 100 feet is!

Re:Europeans, beware!

[daem0n1x]

But the sheriff's feet may be of a different length from the observer's. Who is right, then?

Measuring in dicks may work. The sheriff would mark any arbitrary distance and the observer would be too ashamed of claiming it to be less than the sheriff said it was.

Re:Europeans, beware!

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank god there's wikipedia. I found that "feet" was used by the romans and is about 29.6cm!

Re:Looks like the AG actually read the law

[thaylin]

yes, only other Texans are allowed to intimidate voters

Re:Looks like the AG actually read the law

[mwvdlee]

and I see no reason why unelected "observers" should be given more access to polling places that legitimately registered voters are.

You mean Texas' legitimately registered voters aren't allowed to come closer than 100 foot from a polling place either?

Re:Non-local government is a bad idea

[0xdeadbeef]

What needs do voters have in Texas that are different from those in Brussels?

An inferiority complex that demands they be mollycoddled.

"Yes, you are the biggest state (that counts). Yes you are! You're so important! Don't you worry, we won't let those mean old international observers hurt you! No one is going to hurt my baby Texas!"

Re:Looks like the AG actually read the law

[jawtheshark]

Nah, it was an accident that they got caught ;-)

Re:What obligation is there to allow these observe

[BenEnglishAtHome]

First you say

Actually, international treaties do trump the Constitution.

then you link to a wikipedia article where the first sentence reads:

Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the Constitution supersedes international treaties ratified by the United States Senate.

Care to explain your thought process a bit further?

It's not necessary

[gosand]

In Texas it is seen as a sign of weakness if you have to get closer than 100 feet to cast your vote.
That's because Texans vote by shooting at their ballots. "If you have to get closer than 100 feet, you need to practice your shooting more. YEE-HAW!" *bang* *bang* *bang*