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RonRules
02-10-2008, 05:30 AM
http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/779528,CST-NWS-magic06.article

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.''

Both women agreed that this election meant a lot. They had spent a good deal of time researching candidates.

"I have been voting since I was 18,'' said Carlton, 38. "This is the most important election of my life so far.''

Burkhardt planned to go back to vote late Tuesday. She worried about those who might not be able to return.

"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?"

Time for Change
02-10-2008, 07:30 AM
it amazes me how people do stupid shit sometimes.
I am surprised they remember to eat!

INVISIBLE INK? My god, how stupid can a person be?


Similar story of "Wow are they really that dumb":

Here in florida, NPR (WXEL) was reporting on super tuesday that the elections offices were getting HUNDREDS of calls by people complaining that they could not find where to vote.
They were irate and screaming "But it's Super Tuesday, I have to vote!"
A week late! Our primaries were 1/29/2008. :eek:

You guessed it...Palm Beach County.
They yet again prove that this county has more than it's share of idiots.
To defent them, if the designated village idiot dies, there are many available to replace him!

THere are a lot of older people here...maybe they are overmedicated and not completely ignorant after all...who knows...it IS amazing.

RonRules
02-10-2008, 09:19 AM
It is stupidity, but you can also blame electronic scanning machines.

Take an elderly person with no technical education that is overwhelmed with the current technology. They could easily be swayed by such a comment. They would reply: Oh well, thank you young man, as long as the scanner can read it.

That's one more reason we don't need voting machines. I don't care how long it takes to count the votes. I want it done by had, and video recorded and transmitted on TV or the internet. That's apparently how it's done in South Korea.

PeacePlan
02-10-2008, 09:23 AM
Misinformed judge?

Who misinformed this judge is my question if that is their explanation?

MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2
02-10-2008, 10:39 AM
Here in florida, NPR (WXEL) was reporting on super tuesday that the elections offices were getting HUNDREDS of calls by people complaining that they could not find where to vote.
They were irate and screaming "But it's Super Tuesday, I have to vote!"
A week late! Our primaries were 1/29/2008. :eek:

You guessed it...Palm Beach County.
They yet again prove that this county has more than it's share of idiots.
To defent them, if the designated village idiot dies, there are many available to replace him!


I suspect they received a phone call telling them the date to vote.

As for that invisible ink crap, who "misinformed" the judge?

specsaregood
02-10-2008, 10:51 AM
With all the election Shenanigans that have been happening this election cycle, one must ponder this thought:
"Have Americans been dumbed down to the point where we can't even run our own elections?"

Maybe they really are planning on calling in U.N. observers to help us in the future...
http://www.jbs.org/node/7020

Undesirable consequences may result from the bill's augmentation of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The EAC might invite U.N. international observers to be placed throughout America to jointly monitor the fairness of U.S. elections.