[Pecos]

If I read this article correctly, the Governor set things up so that the special election was, in effect, being run like a primary. Democrats had no choice but to vote for a Democrat.

You may remember the trick of providing a pencil attached to a string in each voting booth. The powers-that-be could then note which way the string was angled to tell who voted for whom. Since, in this case, the polling records indicate who asked for a given ballot, the “secret ballot” principle was eliminated, for all intents and purposes.

Voter intimidation without the New Black Panther clubs.

[Kansas58]

not exactly -—

This was a special election held on the SAME DAY as the regular primary.

The problem here is voter HABITS, and Rendell understood those habits, and worked it to the Dems advantage.

The Democrat Primary voters COULD have voted for the Republican, but that was never likely -—

[Dan Middleton]

"If I read this article correctly, the Governor set things up so that the special election was, in effect, being run like a primary. Democrats had no choice but to vote for a Democrat."

You read it wrong. People could vote for anybody they wanted in the special election regardless of their party affiliation. I spent the past five days in PA-12 working GOTV for Burns and confusion like yours is endemic among the voters.