Elections officials in Florida and Ohio are refusing to grant poll access to a group of distinguished international election observers. While officials in Boone County, Missouri, the City of St. Louis and Leon County, Florida are opening their polls and tabulation centers to independent observers, election administrators in Franklin and Cayuhoga counties, Ohio and Broward, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami-Dade counties, Florida are refusing to do likewise.

The observers say the refusals are troubling, as it limits electoral transparency, which is key to guaranteeing voter confidence. The international observers point out that while Democrats and Republicans will have poll watchers at voting sites, there will be no non-partisan observers present to represent the interests of the growing number of U.S. voters who are Independents.

"I am shocked to find out that officials are not giving us access to the polls," said Sergio Aguayo, a founder of Mexico's premier electoral watchdog group, Alianza Civica, and a past president of the Mexican Academy of Human Rights who will be in Ohio on Election Day. "It reminds me of how things used to work in the Old Mexico. It is sad and shocking."

Fifteen election experts from 10 countries are arriving in the U.S. on October 29 to observe the U.S. elections. The delegation plans to observe conditions in Missouri, Ohio, and Florida.

"From my long experience of international election observation, my suspicions are immediately aroused when officials appear to want to deny observers access to polling sites," said Owen Thomas, Chief Executive of Electoral Reform Services in London. Thomas was a member of a 2002 observation mission sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "International observation throws light on the workings of democracy. Why is anyone against that?"

The delegation that arrives on Oct. 29 is the second of two observation teams invited by the human rights group Global Exchange. A 20-person pre-electoral observation team was in the U.S. Sept. 13-27 investigating a range of issues in Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Ohio and Washington, DC. In its recent report on electoral conditions in the U.S., the observers wrote: "The delegation strongly endorses the recommendations of the OSCE, the Carter Center for Human Rights, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and other experts bodies that call for independent, non-partisan poll watchers, both domestic and international, to be welcomed at the polls and tabulation centers."

To learn more about the independent, non-governmental, international observation of the U.S. elections, please visit: www.fairelection.us. ###