'Illegal' Dutch interference in American elections?

Dutch weekly Intermediair features a rather startling article about Americans voting in the Netherlands. Hidden away near the end of the piece is the following section:

'"We owe the Dutch for the willingness among Americans living in the Netherlands to vote in these elections." (...) A lawyer sent a list of American customers in Amsterdam. Other Dutch citizens used a website, www.tellanamericantovote.com, to inform American friends and colleagues. (...) The website was made for free by a Dutch company. Planning and production of all the printed items (election flyers, ed.) was taken care of by a Dutch advertising agency. Dutch citizens also helped out writing press releases. Amongst them was a member of the Jonge Democraten (the youth organization of the Dutch centrist party D66, ed.) and the personal assistant of a VVD Lower House member (the VVD is a free-market liberal party and considered right wing, ed.). This is something (Claire, ed.) Taylor shouldn't be saying, since foreigners are by law prohibited to help with American election campaigns.'

Claire Taylor describes herself as a Democrat in the Intermediair article.

It is of course a complete coincidence that the website the article mentions, Tellanamericantovote.com, is registered to an organization called Americans Against War, based in the Netherlands. The Dutch register of the Chamber of Commerce doesn't show a registered company at the address the WHOIS listing yields, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 86, suite b56, in Amsterdam. (However, the listed registrant email address for the site is hostmaster@mokum.org. Mokum.org is registered as being the property of C. Willis. The telephone number is that of Demon Internet in Amsterdam, a major ISP. There is indeed a Chris Willis working at this company. He's the general manager there. This doesn't mean much, since it's really easy to add false information to a .org domain registry record.)

The website itself doesn't seem all that neutral either. I guess you could interpret the big flashing statement that '537 votes put George W. Bush in the White House' as an incentive for Republicans as well as Democrats to do their civic duty. Nevertheless, the request at the bottom of the page to report any election problems to a Democrat legal team seems hardly bipartisan to me.

Because of copyright reasons, I can't provide a scan of the entire clipping. Please contact me through email if you do require assistance. Intermediair unfortunately doesn't include the article on its website.

Disclaimer: the translation is mine and therefore, Intermediair should probably not be held responsible for any inaccuracies that might have accidentally sneaked in.

16:53

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