Avery Davis-Roberts was the manager of The Carter Center’s democracy program for 20 years. She gave an interview on January 2, noting that she had left the Carter Center one year ago to the day.

Roberts spoke of the importance fair and open elections held for former President Jimmy Carter. “I think really President Carter’s interest and love for the democratic process kind of grew out of his time here in the State of Georgia.” She referenced Carter’s Senate race, which he contested and won, and his later experience as President. “There were lessons that he had learned about what it meant to be a leader, what it meant to have a transition of power. You know, what it meant to have a good, fair, free, open electoral process.”

Concerns for human rights were another motivation. “President and Mrs. Carter both had, you know, a real commitment to human rights. And really, I believe, saw elections and democracy as sort of the twin to human rights.”

When she left the Carter Center, Roberts had observed over 100 elections in 40 countries. “The Carter Center has worked on election observation in South America and Africa and Asia and in the United States too, both US elections, but also serving elections in tribal nations.”

Roberts highlighted examples of the Carter Center’s work abroad. “I’ve worked with President and Mrs. Carter on Palestinian elections, in 2005 and 2006, and as well as elections in Egypt and Lebanon, lots of the Middle Eastern elections.”

For Roberts, those elections hold special significance. “I think those elections, for me, really stood out, because that part of the world meant so much to President and Mrs. Carter, they really felt sort of very attached to both Palestine and Israel, but also Egypt, because of the Camp David Accords.”

She recalled observing elections in Palestine. “They were elections after a long period not having any, and so people were excited to participate.”

Roberts recalled a discovery during an Egyptian election that highlighted Carter’s influence on the region. “He went to one polling place where there was a candidate on the ballot whose name was Jimmy Carter.” Roberts told how his birth had come at a crucial moment. “He’d been born in the year that the Camp David Accords had been signed, and so his parents had been so happy to have the peace treaty signed that they named their child after Jimmy Carter.”

Roberts noted that democratic enthusiasm has waned in Egypt; “there isn’t really room for opposition in that political context anymore.”

When asked what it was like experiencing both the growth and cessation of democratic participation, Roberts replied; “you can feel the excitement and the energy, and it’s really hard when that changes.” Roberts does remain hopeful, citing Zambia an example of a nation where anti-democratic trends were reversed.

The shift to U.S. election observation is relatively new for the Carter Center, starting four years ago. “The Center has really grown a program that is both focused on sort of building local networks to support democracy resilience, particularly in states that, where there might be more contested elections, or where the risk of political violence might be higher, but also. . .the Carter Center has brought their international election observation experience to the United States, and so it’s been observing elections.”

Roberts gave several factors leading to The Carter Center’s decision to observe U.S. elections, including social unrest, the pandemic, and narratives that undermined trust in U.S. elections. “We were kind of looking at this and thinking, well, if we saw these conditions in another country, we would think that that was a place where the Carter Center might be able to provide assistance.”

Roberts stated reactions were varied, but mostly positive, with much of it coming from election officials and administrators. Roberts described the situation many found themselves in as; “a really hostile and difficult environment where there were, you know, threats to their lives and just a lot of mis- and disinformation about the election process.”

Observing elections in the U.S. has proved vastly different from election observation in many other countries the Carter Center has worked in. “Their elections are administered by a Central Election Commission or a section of the Central Election body. And so there’s consistency and uniformity in how the election is administered across the country. Not so here, where we have 10,000 different electoral jurisdictions in the United States, and so great variety in how things are done.”

Roberts summarized the challenge facing the Carter Center. “If you’re observing elections in the United States, each state is like its own country.” Not only are processes different, but Roberts has noticed cultural differences in voting preference from one state to the next. “People in Georgia really like to vote early and in person. That is not the case in other parts of the Country, even Montana. It’s a lot of vote by mail.”

Roberts also emphasized that the work of the Carter Center extends beyond observation. “The Carter Center does a lot, both of sort of the very discrete, focused election work, but also work that is more broadly focused on how to make democracy flourish, and what that means, the sort of the rights and responsibilities of citizens to make that process work for everyone.”

When asked what aspect of Carter’s legacy as an advocate for democracy he would most want remembered, Roberts replied; “I think he would encourage us all to actively participate in election processes, actively understand election processes, but also understand that elections do not a democracy make. That you have to be involved and you have to turn to your community and serve your community for democracy to function.”