FAMED Mexican author Carlos Fuentes has said that since the upcoming U.S. election will affect the rest of the world, the rest of the world should participate. Fuentes was hardly advocating international suffrage; instead, he was calling on international voices. A recent informal survey reveals that Costa Ricans, who typically take pride in their own democratic system, are concerned about next Tuesday’s presidential elections and highly critical of the electoral process in the United States.
Calling it everything from “the most undemocratic democracy” and “a lie” to “discriminatory,” Costa Rican students, professors, analysts, and artists interviewed by The Tico Times asked how, after the debacle of 2000, U.S. citizens could continue under the same system.
“THE last election misled us all. The process permits a lot of irregularities. They have tried to improve it; nevertheless, the same process continues,” said Roberto de la Osa, director of international relations at Universidad Nacional (UNA) in Heredia. “I would expect more from a modern nation like the United States.”
For those who live in a nation where citizens are automatically registered to vote when they turn 18 and receive official identification cards, the absurd nature of the U.S. electoral system begins with the fact that voters must register to participate. “It seems to me the most undemocratic system in the world. It is extremely exclusive. It’s a system that allows a lot of political influence and pressure,” said Victor Artavia, 22, a University of Costa Rica (UCR) history student involved in student government.
IN recent months, U.S. voter registration has reached the highest levels many states have seen in 20 years. According to reports by United Press International (UPI), Republican Party campaign officials said they have signed up more than 3 million new GOP voters. Democrats said they have exceeded that number, but did not provide statistics. From American Indians to Muslims, grassroots efforts to get everyone registered to vote have taken hold.
But still, the system has a history of discrimination, particularly against blacks and Latinos, according to political analyst Luis Guillermo Solís, director of UCR’s political science graduate program. Reuters news service reported last month that in Baltimore in 2002 and in Georgia last year, black voters were sent fliers saying anyone who had not paid their utility bills, had outstanding parking tickets, or were behind in their rent would be arrested at polling stations.
THE U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that in Florida in 2000, where President George W. Bush won by only 537 votes, black voters were 10 times more likely than non-black voters to have their ballots rejected and were sometimes prevented from voting because their names were erroneously purged from registration lists, Reuters reported. In addition, the New York Times reported that a firm hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters systematically tore up registrations by Democrats. Republicans claim Democrats do the same thing.
The fact that registration takes place on a state rather than a national level is cause for further concern, according to Luis Antonio Sobrado, a magistrate of Costa Rica’s Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE), which oversees elections here. Hours and locations of polling places, the order of names on the ballot, and the type of voting process are determined on a local level, and elections are overseen by civilians in the United States. Registration practices vary by state as well, Sobrado pointed out. “In our past, when we did not have a centralized system, it resulted in corrupt practices,” he added.
ALLEGATIONS of a corrupt election resulted in Costa Rica’s civil war and ultimately led to the creation of the TSE in 1949. “The formation of the Supreme Elections Tribunal was a reaction to the civil war. The country will never return to that system,” Sobrado said. The federalist nature of the United States also gives rise to what is perhaps the greatest anomaly to Costa Ricans polled – the U.S. Electoral College. Sobrado called the system an anachronism. UCR communications student Katzy O’Neal agreed.
“It is a democracy in quotation marks, but really it is a lie; they have proved that Bush did not win the vote of the people,” she said. Many U.S. political experts agree the elimination of the Electoral College is nearly impossible. To do so would require the approval of both the House of Representatives and the Senate and 38 of the 50 states. Because the smallest states, which are the majority, would lose some of their power without the Electoral College, this will likely never happen, according to the U.S. Department of State.
SOME U.S. analysts say that the electoral system within the United States would have been more challenged after 2000 had the country’s attention not been consumed by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Voters in the state of Colorado are also voting on Tuesday on an amendment to split their nine Electoral College votes among the candidates – nearly unheard of in the system. If this makes any difference in the election, some believe this could cause challenges of unconstitutionality.
AS long as the Electoral College remains, what could help build trust and confidence in the U.S. elections, within and outside the United States, is if the U.S. government welcomed election observers, like elections in Mexico and Venezuela, Costa Rican political analysts said. “The United States requires national certification for drugs. They require certification for food products. But they don’t require any sort of national certification of elections,” said de la Osa.
“They should be scrutinizing themselves more, and they should invite international observers, to help strengthen the impression of transparency.” The Bush administration has invited the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to observe the election, according to the Associated Press wire service. That group plans to send 100 observers. In addition, the Justice Department is sending more than 1,000 federal poll watchers on Election Day. However, access to polls by election observers also varies by state.
Magistrate Sobrado said Puerto Rico has invited Costa Ricans to observe its elections. “What happened in Florida was a wake-up call. It should call the attention of North American people that they need to reflect,” he added. WITH the latest polls showing only a slight margin between U.S. President George W. Bush and his Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry, and the election just days away, some Costa Ricans are concerned about a repeat of 2000.
“Fraud has already been committed, and it will probably happen again,” said artist Renee, who uses only his first name. “I hope that the voters there, the young people, realize that their votes, their elections, their system, is going to affect the entire world,” said 22-year-old UCR student Samanta Solorio.
