CNN "American Morning" - Transcript: Presidential Elections

Interview

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COLLINS: In our presidential campaign watch, 85 days until Election Day. Both President Bush and John Kerry are on the road. President Bush just left Washington for Florida.

Yesterday, President Bush held a town meeting in Annandale, Virginia. He answered questions and stressed how he wants Americans to be able to own their own home. Today, Florida, before heading out West. He'll campaign across nine states.

John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry walked along the rim at the Grand Canyon. The Massachusetts senator says he'll reduce the number of forces in Iraq within six months if he's elected. John Kerry will continue the final leg of his cross-country trip out West.

And Ralph Nader enters a make-or-break period. He must get on the ballot in 36 states with deadlines in August and September. A lawyer is planning to challenge Ralph Nader's ballot petitions in Pennsylvania, saying many are falsified.

In November, for the first time ever, an international team of observers will monitor the presidential election. The State Department invited foreign observers in response to congressional calls for U.N. monitors. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat, spearheaded that effort. She joins us now live from Washington.

Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

REP. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (D), TEXAS: Good morning.

COLLINS: I want to ask you, why did you push for the election observers? Is there a question in your mind that elections are not free and fair in this country?

JOHNSON: It's not just in my mind. I had thousands of requests from around the country. So it's not just me. But I'm responding, because I'm a party of representative government.

There is no trust in our system right now. And we must restore that trust.

COLLINS: Why do you think there's no trust in our system right now?

JOHNSON: It's based upon what I'm hearing, and what many members of Congress are hearing.

COLLINS: What is that?

JOHNSON: That they don't believe that machines are going to be so that they'll report honestly, that they do not believe that they will allow people to vote without intimidation.

There's already been a list that was brought up in Florida. Now it's discarded. We just think it's discarded. It might not be. But there are many questions in practically every state in this union that we have gotten inquiries about.

COLLINS: Well, tell us a little bit more about how this will work then. Will there be monitors in every state?

JOHNSON: I don't know that. I do intend-I have asked for an audience with some person, an appropriate person in the secretary of state's office. And I invite Republican members and any other member who would like to go to this dialogue.

This is not partisan. This is American. It is the crux of our democracy.

We will-many people have told me about various hidden techniques around the country as related to people being barred from voting in year 2000. We do not want that to happen. We are supposed to be the democracy of the world. And here we are being questioned around the world as to whether we're going to follow our own mandates.

COLLINS: You say, Representative Johnson, this is not a partisan effort. Can you expand on that?

JOHNSON: It is not intended to be anything partisan. It is intended to be American, to support our first amendment rights, and to also support our democracy.

Without the freedom to express one's opinion about who they'd like in office, there is no democracy. And we are all accustomed to losing, most especially minorities, and most especially women. We just want the vote to be counted accurately.

We might lose again. But we want the vote to be counted accurately. And we want every eligible citizen who is registered to vote without intimidation.

COLLINS: Are you at all concerned, though, that some voters might actually find this process insulting?

JOHNSON: The voters are the ones who are asking to have some protection. So maybe some will. But if they look at it as a way to restore the confidence in our government-because many, many people still feel that we have a president that was never elected.

That's just not my opinion. It is the opinion of thousands of people around this country. We don't want that to happen again.

COLLINS: Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, thanks so much for your time this morning.

JOHNSON: Thank you very much, Heidi.

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