#EpicFail: Blanche Lincoln Turned Away From Home Polling Place This Morning

[Joanne98]

Sen. Blanche Lincoln suffered what might be one of the all-time greatest campaign staff fails this morning. According to her campaign staff, Lincoln was initially turned away when she tried to vote at her home her polling place this morning after elections officials discovered she had already requested an absentee ballot be sent to her Virginia home. Poll workers told Lincoln their records showed she had already voted.

"She just wanted to be prepared," campaign spokesperson Katie Laning Niebaum told me a few minutes ago. "She has requested absentee ballots on many past occasions."

Lincoln didn't fill out the absentee ballot this time, her staff no doubt eager for the classic casting-the-ballot photo op this morning. But, thanks to this mix-up, she's stuck with the less appealing "filling out the provisional ballot so elections officials can determine if her vote is legal or not" shot instead.

A state elections official told me that Lincoln's ballot will be counted tonight -- assuming she passes the provisional review -- but not until after all the absentee and early voting ballots have been counted. That means Lincoln's own ballot might not count in the official total until well after the race has been called.

It's not exactly the ideal circumstance any candidate. But for Lincoln, the gaffe may be doubly painful. Supporters of her opponent in the Democratic primary, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, have attacked her for the Virginia house where the ballot was sent. They say the $2 million home Lincoln shares with her husband in the D.C. suburbs shows her commitment to Arkansas is, in the words of one blogger, "skin-deep."
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/epicfail-blanche-lincoln-turned-away-from-home-polling-place-this-morning.php

[Duer 157099]

1. Wow, epic stupid

Who doesn't know that when you have an absentee ballot but that you want to vote in person, you BRING the absentee ballot with you to the polling place?

Yikes, she must be new to voting. Or reading.

[MindandSoul]

2. Yes, that is an unforgivable mistake for a politician at her level!!!

[quiet.american]

3. What a gift for Halter. nt

[AtomicKitten]

4. I usually vote via absentee ballot but since moving to SF I take my ballot

to the polling place (1 block away) and trade it in for a ballot and vote there.

Unfortunately Lincoln still has a few pts lead. Karma requires a reckoning for her audacity in running commercials bragging about killing the PO. I hope this voting faux pas blows up in her face.

[Bryn]

5. I am heading to vote for Halter today

taking my GOP mom with dementia with me, I am going to be wicked and guide her to vote Halter. She used to be a democrat until those TV preachers told her to vote Republican so I am just taking them out to get Mom back on right track.

:evilgrin:

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. That's the kind of dishonesty I could never get behind.

And in California, you could and should do jail time and pay a hefty fine for doing such a thing.

This is the first time in my years at DU I've seen anyone admit their plan for doing something illegal at the polling place.

That sucks.

[Bryn]

10. Your concern is duly noted

We just got back from voting. We both have cards that say "optional" rather than "Democrat", "Republican", "Independent", etc. I am her sole caretaker. She did decide to vote for Halter after I told her about him, she listened to him on TV and she dislikes Blanche Lincoln. So when we got to our voting center a lady asked Mom which one she wanted ... Blue for Democrat, Red for R or White for bipartisan. I tried to tell her to pick white so she could vote all other as R. I just wanted her to vote for Halter, but she kept insisting on Blue...Blue so she was given a blue paper. She had trouble deciding which one after marking Halter, I told her to pick whoever she wanted, but she told me to mark for her. After all she was a Democrat until she became a born again Christian and thought she did what God wanted her to via those TV preachers so I don't feel I am doing anything wrong. After all she did pick Blue in front of those polling people at table by herself.

Think about this: this voting isn't about between D or R like in November. If Blanche Lincoln wins this poll I would have a huge problem holding my nose to vote for her. She's so bad that I'd rather vote for green or independent candidates if they're there, if not then R, or write myself in. I've never voted for R! Except for when I was in Florida I voted for Jeb Bush for 2nd term because he seemed to be lesser evil than Martinez (DINO) and Jeb did care for Florida, told his brother, GWB, to back off from off-shore drilling of Florida.

Everything is fine. Don't worry. :)

[bigwillq]

7. K and R

I hope this is the end of Miss Lincoln.

[greencharlie]

8. lmfao... @ the twit. nt

[Radical Activist]

9. The most common forms of voter disenfranchisement (fraud) are perfectly legal.

This is just one of the little hurdles that effectively trashes millions of votes a year nationally. Her vote will be counted, but provisional ballots for the average person are generally thrown in the trash after one candidate concedes.