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Quote: "It makes me recall a Maine election for state legislature. Many votes for teh GOP candidate were made in red ink. The law does not allow that. The red ink votes were not allowed."

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So what were the red pens doing in the voting booths?

Here are a couple of threads from the 2002 Maine election:

GOP cries foul in Maine Senate election

Stealing an Election in Maine

I am pleased to report that I was in favor of following law and precedent each time.

As a teacher at one time I can attest to this happening a lot. Say the ballot (or test) calls for the voter to fill in the bubble with black ink. Do you count it if:

The bubble is "x"ed
The bubble is checked
There is a check by the bubble, but not on it
The bubble is circled
The bubble is underlined
A different color ink is used
A pencil is used
A bubble is filled in with pencil and so is another but it is not fully erased
More than one bubble is filled in
One bubble is filled in and partially erased and another is checked or "x"ed
One bubble is filled in with black ink and has an X overtop of it and another is also filled in
One bubble is filled in but there is an arrow drawn from it pointing to a different candidate's name
No bubble is filled in but the candidate's name is circled
No bubble is filled in but the candidate's name is underlined and another has a line drawn through it
No bubble is filled in but one candidate's name (of two) is "x"ed through
All previous bubbles are filled in but one has a larger blob covering it and and another is filled in