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Voters are told pen had 'invisible ink' [ BLANK BALLOTS | Staffers try to reach 20 who thought....]
Sun Times ^

Posted on 02/06/2008 10:04:35 AM PST by Sub-Driver

Voters are told pen had 'invisible ink' BLANK BALLOTS | Staffers try to reach 20 who thought they'd voted

February 6, 2008 BY ANNIE SWEENEY Staff Reporter/asweeney@suntimes.com

When it comes to election shenanigans, Chicago has been accused of just about everything.

But invisible ink?

Twenty voters at a Far North Side precinct who found their ink pens not working were told by election judges not to worry.

It's invisible ink, officials said. The scanner will count it.

But their votes weren't recorded after all.

"Part of me was thinking it does sound stupid enough to be true,'' said Amy Carlton, who had serious doubts but went ahead and voted anyway.

As it turns out, Carlton was one of 20 voters at the precinct who were given the wrong pen to use. They were also then told, apparently by a misinformed judge, that the pens have invisible ink, elections officials said.

As a result, the votes were not counted. But officials insisted there were no dirty tricks involved.

"This one defies logic,'' said Jim Allen, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections. "You try to anticipate everything. But certain things just ... they go beyond any kind of planning you can perform.''

By late afternoon, five voters had been contacted and told to come back to the polling place to vote again. And elections staff had left messages at the homes of the rest, Allen said.

Carlton and Angela Burkhardt, another voter who was told the same invisible ink story, spent a good part of the day calling and e-mailing the Board of Elections to get answers.

"I am furious and devastated and I just feel stupid,'' Carlton said. "I feel so angry.''

(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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amazing..
1 posted on 02/06/2008 10:04:45 AM PST by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver

“Part of me was thinking it does sound stupid enough to be true,’’ said Amy Carlton, who had serious doubts but went ahead and voted anyway.

Bet she was a Democrat.

;)


2 posted on 02/06/2008 10:06:07 AM PST by Slapshot68
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To: Sub-Driver

These morons had to be Democrats, since the article did not identify which primary they were voting in.


3 posted on 02/06/2008 10:07:21 AM PST by kittymyrib
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To: Sub-Driver

A poll tax on idiots.


4 posted on 02/06/2008 10:08:07 AM PST by 3AngelaD (They screwed up their own countries so bad they had to leave, and now they're here screwing up ours)
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To: Sub-Driver
There’s nothing like Donkey-ville for finding ways to screw over voters...
5 posted on 02/06/2008 10:08:19 AM PST by geo40xyz (A vote for Paul or Huckabee is a VOTE for McCain)
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To: Sub-Driver

If I was that stupid to have allowed myself to be talked into it then I would be way to embarrassed to admit it when they came knocking to tell me I could re-vote. I wonder how many of the twenty will admit to being talked into it now that it is front page news.


6 posted on 02/06/2008 10:08:46 AM PST by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Slapshot68

Sure are some idiots voting these days.


7 posted on 02/06/2008 10:10:26 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20 (-)
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To: Sub-Driver

“Twenty voters at a Far North Side precinct who found their ink pens not working were told by election judges not to worry.”

I think a fair punishment for those so called election judges is to shovel those twenty voters driveways, wash their cars, and clean their houses. They wasted the voters time, so they owe some of their own time to the voters. Idiots.


8 posted on 02/06/2008 10:10:42 AM PST by monday
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To: Sub-Driver
And I thought these kinds of things only happened in our state.

This wasn't the fault of the voters:

They were also then told, apparently by a misinformed judge, that the pens have invisible ink

another voter who was told the same invisible ink story, spent a good part of the day calling and e-mailing the Board of Elections to get answers.

9 posted on 02/06/2008 10:19:38 AM PST by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: Sub-Driver

“Just leave that space blank, the machines automatically fill them in for you! See? We take care of EVERYTHING!”................


10 posted on 02/06/2008 10:19:55 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Sub-Driver

I live on the northwest side and all votes are cast on a touch screen using a inkless pen. I don’t ever remember writing on a ballot.

Prior to the touch screen it was the old chads...


11 posted on 02/06/2008 10:20:29 AM PST by erics-chi town
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To: Sub-Driver

Is Sharpton screaming? Ergo....


12 posted on 02/06/2008 10:21:44 AM PST by Rippin
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To: Sub-Driver

This is the kind of crap people need to spend a few years in JAIL for!


13 posted on 02/06/2008 10:21:54 AM PST by Just Lori (There is nothing democrat-"ic" about democrats.)
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To: Sub-Driver

The mind boggles.


14 posted on 02/06/2008 10:22:42 AM PST by Constitution Day (Yuckabee '08. I'd prefer another letter, but it would get me suspended.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Perhaps they were voting for shadow candidates or the dead people in Chicago cemeteries.


15 posted on 02/06/2008 10:23:53 AM PST by garyhope (It's World War IV, right here, right now, courtesy of Islam.)
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To: Sub-Driver

What kind of ballot uses a pen?


16 posted on 02/06/2008 10:24:02 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: Sub-Driver

“Don’t worry about it Honey! I can’t get you pregnant! Really!”


17 posted on 02/06/2008 10:25:08 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: Sub-Driver

As Brendan Fraser in “Return of the Mummy” would say
“Democrats!!!”


18 posted on 02/06/2008 10:27:56 AM PST by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts and guns made America great.)
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To: AppyPappy

Fill in the circle ballots. Just like standardized tests in school.


19 posted on 02/06/2008 10:28:40 AM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: Sub-Driver
It's invisible ink, officials said. The scanner will count it.
Did you know the word "gullible" is not actually in the dictionary? Really!

Peet
20 posted on 02/06/2008 10:33:39 AM PST by Peet (Insert clever phrase here.)
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