Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last
To: Sub-Driver; oldglory; MinuteGal; mcmuffin; gonzo; seekthetruth; SE Mom; sheikdetailfeather

Think that’s funny? There were some nitwits here in Orange County, FloriDUH who saw people voting in “Orange County” California yesterday, and called the Supervisor of Elections to say that they wanted to go vote too, but needed to know where they were supposed to go.

They were told, “sorry - you’re a week late - the FloriDUH primary was on January 29.”


21 posted on 02/06/2008 10:38:44 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Romney will get the P or VP nod if I have anything to do with it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

I have a feeling the whole invisible ink pens snafu will be quickly hushed up...it doesn’t serve the mainstream media’s agenda. Same with Chelsea’s early morning electioneering and a dozen of other small incidents that will go unnoticed until the “right” one comes along at which time the media and self-appointed speakers will blow it out of proportion and make false claims of evidence and patterns of disenfranchisement.


22 posted on 02/06/2008 10:42:33 AM PST by Danz Family
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Matchett-PI

I heard about that on our local news...all i could think was - glad I live in Seminole! :)


23 posted on 02/06/2008 10:50:05 AM PST by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Matchett-PI

Don’t tell them about New Jersey!


24 posted on 02/06/2008 10:55:25 AM PST by Cletus.D.Yokel (McCain is unstable.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

Why didn’t they use pencils?


25 posted on 02/06/2008 10:58:35 AM PST by Anti-Bubba182
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SE Mom

Well Seminole is still reliably Republican. :)


26 posted on 02/06/2008 10:59:39 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Romney will get the P or VP nod if I have anything to do with it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: SE Mom

Well Seminole is still reliably Republican. :)


27 posted on 02/06/2008 10:59:49 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Romney will get the P or VP nod if I have anything to do with it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Cletus.D.Yokel

NJ? I missed it. What happened?


28 posted on 02/06/2008 11:00:49 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Romney will get the P or VP nod if I have anything to do with it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Matchett-PI

Isn’t there an “Orange County” in NJ, too?


29 posted on 02/06/2008 11:10:48 AM PST by Cletus.D.Yokel (McCain is unstable.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Matchett-PI

Yes, we are- and even some of us Republicans are conservative:)


30 posted on 02/06/2008 11:11:02 AM PST by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Cletus.D.Yokel

Oh, yeah! Now I gotcha!


31 posted on 02/06/2008 11:29:59 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Romney will get the P or VP nod if I have anything to do with it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: SE Mom

Well, I let both ‘RATS and RINOS know that I view the big government legislation they want to pass as a threat to my freedoms.

Peace isn’t the absence of war, peace is the presence of freedom and justice and an absence of a threat to either of them.

If they want unity and peace, they had better stop attempting to undermine the Constitution by using the arm of government to enforce their personal beliefs and moral conscience on the rest of us.

There are plenty of militant Christians who would have no qualms whatsoever in living under a dictatorship (and forcing the rest of us to, also) if they thought that their dictator was a “Christian”.

They can go to [fill in the blank] :)


32 posted on 02/06/2008 11:44:30 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Romney will get the P or VP nod if I have anything to do with it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

BWAHAHAA!!! Here in Oreegon, we’ve got vote-by-mail, and every time we get something passed that the Libs don’t like, they start disqualifying signatures or find a friendly judge to overturn. I half expect to start getting my ballots mailed back to me with big red check marks on the ones I get “wrong.”


33 posted on 02/06/2008 12:07:00 PM PST by gundog (John McCain is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Peet

BWAHAHAHA!


34 posted on 02/06/2008 12:08:44 PM PST by gundog (John McCain is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver
I noticed that the story never used the terms Republican or Democrat, so I clicked the link to read it all. I found this gem, attributed to a "voter" identified as Angela Burkhardt:

"I worry about the other people who were there,'' she said. "Maybe [they] can't get off work. I am a person of privilege. I can go back. What if you couldn't?"

A "person of privilege". Okay, now I know for sure that they're Democrats, not that there was ever much doubt. Too bad she doesn't have the "privilege" of a functioning brain.

35 posted on 02/06/2008 1:24:58 PM PST by TheMole
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

***snicker***


36 posted on 02/06/2008 1:26:34 PM PST by TADSLOS (Conservatism means never having to say "I voted for John McCain for the sake of the GOP")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AppyPappy
What kind of ballot uses a pen?

Paper ballots in Santa Clara County in California did yesterday. We've been using touch screens for a few years but went back to paper for this election.

37 posted on 02/06/2008 1:36:11 PM PST by Bob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson