Carter Center Hosts Chinese Delegation to Observe U.S. Elections

Contact: Deborah Hakes in Atlanta: 404-420-5124, and in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3-5: 404-345-4487.

Atlanta…The Carter Center will host a Chinese delegation to observe U.S. elections in the San Francisco and Washington, D.C., areas on Nov. 4, 2008.

"This is the fifth time we have invited Chinese officials and scholars to observe U.S. elections," said Yawei Liu, director of the Carter Center's China Program. "They are not here to measure whether the elections are free and fair. They are here to see how the United States organizes elections, voter registration, and how different organizations try to mobilize people to get out and vote – to see American democracy in action."

The delegation will meet with government officials, political party leaders, and learn about electronic voting technologies, then visit polling stations on Nov. 4.

For a decade, at the invitation of the Chinese government, The Carter Center has worked to help standardize electoral procedures in China and foster better governance in local communities. In addition to holding elections in some 600,000 villages, China conducts direct elections of township and county People's Congress deputies, allowing 75 percent of the nation's 1.3 billion people to elect their local leaders and representatives, who in the United States would be city council chairmen and members.

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"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."

A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 70 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers in developing nations to increase crop production. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.

Read more about the Carter Center's work in China