2 voters in Cambridge handed ballots with bubble next to Brown’s name already filled in

[Amerigo Vespucci]

The Plum LineGreg Sargent's blog
Weird Ballot In Cambridge?

Note to readers: Please let me know what you’re seeing in the field today in Massachusetts.

A software engineer in Cambridge says he was handed a fishy ballot at the polling station in a local firehouse — it already had the bubble next to Scott Brown’s name filled in. But he doesn’t think it likely that it was fraud.

“Scott Brown’s bubble was already filled in,” the software engineer, Aaron Kemp, 28, tells me by phone. “I handed it back to them and asked, `Can I have a clean ballot, please?’”

The workers at the polling place in the Lexington Avenue Firehouse “were very surprised,” Kemp says, adding that he asked them to look through the other ballots to see if any others had a bubble filled in. “They looked through and they didn’t see any other ones,” he says.

Kemp says the area is very Democratic, and he worries that other voters might get a similar ballot without noticing, fill in Martha Coakley’s name, and submit a ballot with two names filled in, rendering it ineligible. But he says he thinks it was more likely a foul up than fraud. And, obviously, this is only one example.

Please let me know what you see on both sides along these lines.

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Update: A second voter — Julia Volynskaya, a 34-year-old social worker from Brighton — is now reporting the same experience.

“I was handed a ballot and when I went to fill it out I saw that the bubble next to Brown’s name was already filled in,” Volynskaya, who voted today in Brighton. Election workers, she added, promised her they “were going to look into how this happened.”

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/fishy-ballot-in-cambridge/

[Zoeisright]

1. Gee - Repukes CHEATING? Who'd a thunk it?

:sarcasm:

[FBaggins]

2. Not buying it

There may be cheating going on, but by pre-filling a ballot circle?

Would anyone actually expect a voter to miss the fact that the circle right next to the one he was filling out... was already filled?

[Tailormyst]

3. That would be the stupidest attempt at cheating ever

Think about it

[jgraz]

5. Yes, but why do these stories always seem to favor the Repukes?

:shrug:

[Tailormyst]

12. Probably because a Democrat wouldn't think up such a stupid plan?

No non-brown supporter is going to cast that vote.

[lyonn]

6. Stupid has worked for over 8 years??

Why does this surprise anyone?

[Tailormyst]

11. Stupid as in " It wouldn't work"

Think about it. You go to vote for Martha but the circle for Brown is filled in. Would you shrug and say " oops looks like I am going to have to go cast this vote for Brown". Of course not. You would simply walk back over and say " excuse me, this ballot is already filled in, may I have a new one?" and they would say " sure, and hand you a new one"

[crazylikafox]

4. well, I guess we'll have to hold up seating Brown for six months....

While we investigate this. :-) Just like they did to poor Al Franken.

[lyonn]

10. I like your thinking!! nt

[malaise]

21. I hope people are taking photos

of these bogus ballots

[damntexdem]

7. Just takes one poll worker, or more, to fill the bubbles in.

And who knows how many voters didn't catch it?

[FBaggins]

9. How many idiot democrats do YOU think there are in MA?

"Oh look... one of those other circle thingies is already filled in. Oh well... I'm sure it doesn't matter"

[Tailormyst]

13. Umm how would they NOT catch it

My ballot was a full size sheet of paper with 3 names on it. How would anyone NOT catch it? Seriously. " Well I was going to vote for Martha, but gee wizz, looks like I voted for Brown"

[sakabatou]

8. Call them on voter fraud

[Ian David]

14. Pre-filled ballots accidentally making it into the wrong pile?

"This is the pile to run through the machines when nobody is looking. THIS is the pile to hand to the voters."

[crazylikafox]

15. I think you're on to something.

[progressoid]

16. Yup.

[progressoid]

17. "But he doesn’t think it likely that it was fraud"

Riiiight. :eyes:

[KamaAina]

18. Actually, that's two different cities

Brighton is a neighborhood in Boston, across the Charles River from Cambridge.

[LLStarks]

19. Ugh. More of this? If we can't trust the machines and poll workers, who can we trust? nt

[Octafish]

20. Karl Rove made 'taking' Ted's seat job 1...

Being pukes, about the only way they can do that is by cheating.

[ObamaKerryDem]

23. +1

Something really, really stinks about this whole thing..:thumbsdown:

But it ain't over 'til it's over!

[Festivito]

22. Those ballots need to be turned over to the justice department.

There seems some possible serious election fraud involved. Those papers need fingerprints and other tests.

Filled in blanks do not happen by accident.

[Ian David]

24. UPDATE: Five Ballots in Three Districts

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4232233