US Election Needs More OSCE Monitors to Avoid Racial Discrimination

US presidential elections need additional observers from OSCE, according to the statement of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should expand its election monitoring mission to US states that have historically discriminated against African-American voters, a US civil rights group said in a press release on Tuesday.

"A confluence of factors has made the right to vote more vulnerable to racial discrimination than at any time in recent history," the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said. "The need for additional election observers is paramount."

The release cited a series of court decisions that have effectively scuttled the US Voting Rights Act, a law introduced in the 1960s, which targets southern states where African-Americans were prevented from voting.

The civil rights group is asking the OSCE to send extra observers for the upcoming US presidential election, in addition to the 500 observers it already plans to deploy. OSCE members include nations in Europe and Central Asia.