2/22/2008 4:40:48 PM
Last month, Herb Franks, founding partner of Franks, Gerkin & McKenna in Marengo was selected as an international observer of elections. When first asked by an old friend whether he was free to go to Georgia for an election, Franks asked, "Atlanta or Savanna?" Unfortunately, the Georgia Herb Franks' friend was referring to was much colder and 10 time zones ahead of Marengo, Illinois.
The republic of Georgia became independent when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 and since then election fraud, violence and rebel insurgencies have plagued the country.
To say the least, Georgia's recent electoral history has been controversial. Mikheil Saakashvili had been president from 2004 until last November when he stepped down after several demonstrations and an interim leader took over and scheduled presidential balloting for January 5th.
Herb Franks was assigned to monitor the polling in Gori, high up in the Caucasus Mountains a few miles from Ossetia. This mountainous town is the birthplace of Joseph Stalin and is near a rebel stronghold located in Ossetia. Needless to say, Herb Franks was told not to travel very far, being duly warned, "that it was not healthy to enter the Ossetia area."
Despite the danger and the freezing cold, Herb Franks was inspired by the fact that the people of Georgia "desperately wanted to have fair elections," and he felt called to do what he could to quell concerns that such fairness would not occur. So on Election Day, Franks and other observers, monitored thirty different voting centers.
According to Mr. Franks, "as the voters came in and got their ballots, their left thumbs were painted an iridescent color." At some of the polling places, Franks noticed a few people who tried to vote multiple times but they didn't pass the paint test, so they were sent away.
At the polling places, two video cameras were installed to guarantee honest elections but Franks noticed something irregular about the cameras placement. "I looked at the cameras very carefully and discovered that one of them shined right down into the voting booth, so the camera could see both the people and their voting," he said. After alerting officials, the direction of the cameras was quickly changed.
While the ballot boxes were all made of clear plastic, making it impossible to put ballots into them before the voting began; Franks did notice that at one of the polling places the ballot box wasn't sealed properly. Thanks to his concern, officials quickly remedied the problem.
After the polls closed at 8 p.m., Herb Franks and other observers stayed at one of the polling places for ballot counting. By 11 p.m. they had a winner and Franks trudged back to his hotel in the snow.
"I think it was fair, in the sense that anybody who voted had their vote count," Franks says. Overall, for Herb Franks, "it was a wonderful learning experience" and he would be happy to monitor another election anywhere in the world, if anybody should ask.
