Corker suggests Afghanistan’s voter rules better than in U.S.

Elections in Afghanistan might just have a better voter registration process than the U.S., one senator observing Afghan elections this week suggested Thursday.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the only member of Congress on the ground to observe elections in Afghanistan, praised the election process in the country, where U.S. troops have been stationed since 2001.

“I’m sure there were irregularities — I mean, this is a country that is obviously coming along, if you will, as it relates to democracy,” Corker said in a conference call with journalists about the trip. “But I have to tell you, from what we observed, every single polling station was set up the same, there was a description on the wall about what to do pictorially, there were observers in every single polling place.”

Corker was particularly impressed by the voter registration cards each Afghan voters were required to tote at the polls.

“The same system was set up in every single place,” Corker said. “A person would come in with a registration card — and I might add, there you cannot vote without a registration card. That’s not the case even in the home states.”

Overall, the first-term senator said he was generally happy with what he’d observed.

“I was very impressed with what I saw at the polling stations,” Corker said.