In the weeks leading up to Afghanistan’s Presidential election, Western diplomats often hailed the August 20^th vote as an Afghan led-election, but with the first round marred by wide spread accusations fraud and ballot stuffing the international community is stepping up its role and assuming a greater responsibility for ensuring the runoff election is fair and clean.

Western officials admit they can’t eliminate all of the fraud, nor can they design a new election system in two weeks, but they believe the system can be tweaked to reduce fraud – ensuring a more legitimate election.

Already more than 200 election workers have been fired at the request of international election officials and both candidates – with many more likely to be replaced or moved to new locations.

To increase transparency and reduce the number of election observers needed, officials also plan to cut about 7,000 of the 24,000 polling stations that were set up for the August ballot. Afghans who previously voted at a closed polling station will be directed to another station in the same district.

Security remains a major concern for the November 7^th run-off. As in August, Afghan security forces will take the lead in providing security on election day. However, U.S. and International troops will be more visible than they were during the first round of voting – when they intentionally stayed away from polling stations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.