Election Shenanigans Watch: Pennsylvania and ... New Jersey?

The TV guys are still focused on Florida and Ohio. Always fighting the last war. So far, things are generally holding up well in those states.

The early election craziness for 2008 seems to be in Virginia and Pennsylvania. We documented some of the problems in VA earlier today, but many of the same problems are happening in Pennsylvania.

In PA, voting machines are breaking down — apparently these things are made of out of the same stuff they use for the space shuttle — and people are voting by paper ballots. PA does have a statewide mandate for back-up paper ballots.

But once again, voters are being told that their paper ballot, which they are using because of a machine breakdown, will be counted as provisional instead of regular.

Counting those ballots as provisional is a violation of state election law. As we understand it, all paper ballots should be counted as regular ballots if voters are using them because of a machine breakdown.

Additional PA problems, and some surprising news coming out of New Jersey, after the jump.


Pennsylvania also brings us an early instance of poll observers being denied access:

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A Pennsylvania judge previously ruled that court-appointed poll watchers could be NOT removed from their boards by an on-site election judge, but that is exactly what is happening, according to sources on the ground.

It is the duty of election board workers to monitor and guard the integrity of the voting process.

Denying access to the minority (in this case Republican) poll watchers and inspectors is a violation of Pennsylvania state law. Those who violate the law can be punished with a misdemeanor and subjected to a fine of $1,000 and sent to prison between one month and two years.

But there are reports that Republican observers in Philadelphia are being kicked out of the polling places:

The Democrats are saying that the polling station is crowded and election board members need to cycle through the areas intermittently. … Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes says this matter is already being heard in court and should be resolved soon. He says there was a dispute of the names of the poll watchers on record. This is a different story than the Democratic officials told Fox News earlier this morning.

There are also reports about students being denied the right to vote. Earlier today there was a 1,000 student strong line at Penn State, and many students were turned away.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey of all places, there are reports of voting machines breaking down disproportionately in minority areas. New Jersey! Also in the Garden State, first-time voters (again in minority areas) are showing up to vote only to find that their names are not in the signature books at their polling place. This is happening to people who registered via mail.

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America baby! Who wants a piece of the “best-run democracy on Earth?”

A Repeat of 2004 Philly Voter Chaos, Fraud [Townhall.com]

Earlier: Election Shenanigans Watch: All Hell is Breaking Loose in Virginia