Dirty Tricks in PA

Obama Community Blog

If you were planning to vote yesterday in the Pennsylvania primary you had another thing coming as reports of voting machine problems in all of Obama's stronghold precincts. Several machines were malfunctioning in the city, leading one local community leader to allege "dirty tricks" were the cause.
Many residents trying to cast ballots yesterday found long lines and broken machines and intimidation across the region.


Six of ten machines were down at a busy Delaware County polling site. It took 103 people 8 hours to vote in Upper Darby, which is heavily populated by immigrant and first time voters. Many of those freshly-minted voters had difficulties using the six machines that still functioned. "Hell of a day for six of the machines to go down," said one poll worker.


In South Philadelphia, voting machines were broken at 4th and Ritner, smack dab in the middle of a Obama strong hold. "The dirty tricks have begun," said John Lucas, spokesman for the election board, who sees a conspiracy.


A local elections official interviewed on MSNBC acknowledged some problems early Tuesday morning, but he said those had been resolved before midday. He denied reports that only one or two voting machines were functional in some predominantly African American neighborhoods.


[..]Because of the expected large turnout, election judges' difficulty getting machines started at a polling place in North Braddock and another in the city's Banksville section prompted some concern.


At these two sites, election judges, clerks and inspectors, all nominally paid volunteers, initially were unable to print out verification that the voting machines had been set at zero. A technician was dispatched to each location and helped to properly set up the machines,upon further inspection machines had been manipulated and set with 500 to 1500 votes calibrated to Clinton.


Only 30 people in Banksville and several more in North Braddock could use emergency paper ballots to cast their votes, "30 ballots for an entire district" If that's not fraud, i don't know what is. Heavily black districts didn't have any ballots at all just broken or defective machines that didn't work.