It's come to this: international monitors needed for US elections

Republican attempts to reduce voter turnout in minority neighborhoods are so widespread that, at the request of American civil rights groups, international monitors will oversee our elections: United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week.[...] The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner on democratization and human rights projects, will deploy 44 observers from its human rights office around the country on Election Day to monitor an array of activities, including potential disputes at polling places. It's part of a broader observation mission that will send out an additional 80 to 90 members of parliament from nearly 30 countries. Liberal-leaning civil rights groups met with representatives from the OSCE this week to raise their fears about what they say are systematic efforts to suppress minority voters likely to vote for President Obama. The election is going to come down to a battle between Democratic voter turnout efforts and Republican voter suppression efforts. At Daily Kos, we have made it easier to win this battle by putting the two largest Democratic voter turnout operations—President Obama's reelection campaign and the union-backed Workers' Voice—on a single Act Blue page. Please help get Democrats to the polls, and make sure their votes count, by contributing $3 each to President Obama and Workers' Voice. Keep fighting, Chris Bowers Campaign Director, Daily Kos