Election observer
Haiti Democracy Project mission at work in the 2010–11 elections
Election observer Pythagore Dumas compares polling returns to published results . . . see below
 

Original unaltered return

Polling return shows government candidate getting eleven votes (first line, above)

 

Published results padded by 100 for govt. candidate

This is inflated into 111 votes In the result posted by the electoral commission.

 

 

How it affected race

Repeated enough times it completely alters the outcome of the race

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False Presidential Votes

List of false votes for government presidential candidate sent by Haiti Democracy Project electoral mission to election commissioner and posted on web. They had previously been quarantined by the Tabulation Center for suspected fraud, but had been put back into the mix to be counted under pressure of President Préval

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Election Observer Velita Obas

Observer Velita Obas of Port-au-Prince holds the Haiti Democracy Project record for number of polling-place counts tabulated in one evening—seventeen. Used as a basis of training, her achievement brings within range a parallel count of the entire national vote.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Costs

Cost to Taxpayers

Cost per observer

Observers

False Votes Photographed

See example above left.

 

Photographed

Explanation. The Haiti Democracy Project mission found 14,408 fraudulent votes in the database of the presidential vote. The OAS mission found none. These 14,408 votes reversed the order of finishers, qualifying President Préval's stand-in for the runoff and eliminating challenger Michel Martelly.

The Obama administration saw that the fraud was becoming too obvious and that the OAS mission was doing nothing about it, so it sent the Verification Mission of statistical experts to correct the vote. The mission found 17,220 fraudulent votes for Préval's stand-in. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to Haiti herself to press President Préval to eliminate them. This was done, Michel Martelly was reinstated, and went on to win the second round with 67 percent of the vote.

Comparing the missions

 
HDP
 OAS

Published photographic evidence of discrepancy between polling returns and posted results

 R 0
Detected de-quarantining of 14,408 fraudulent votes to favor government presidential candidate
 R 0
Corrected presidential vote, changing outcome of election
 R 0
Stood by as corrupt election officials rigged the process
0 R
Trusted by Haitian public opinion
 R 0
Credited by president with saving election R 0
Credited by prime minister with saving election R 0
Electoral work increased legitimacy and authority of resulting Haitian administration R 0
Source of funds
3 board members
19 countries