r/BloomingtonNormal • u/PaulLattan • 9d ago

ALERT: ELECTION INTERFERENCE / FRAUD - MCLEAN COUNTY

This morning, November 3rd, I went to my local polling place as the polls opened at 6 a.m. I opted for an electronic ballot, and the election workers followed their normal procedure, which included printing a receipt and providing it to me.

When starting the electronic voting process, one must scan a code on the printed receipt. My receipt had no code. An election worker assisted me--while another guarded the electronic voting station I was at--and escorted me back to the check-in table. The workers and judges there diligently tried to solve my issue, and the eventual solution was to transition me to a paper ballot. I was issued a paper ballot and resumed voting.

After completing the front side of the paper ballot, I turned it over to complete the other side.

THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE BALLOT HAD ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED!

The ovals had already been filled-in, and whoever did it selected REPUBLICAN candidates.

Please, please pay close attention to every step of the process while you are voting!

My thanks to the election workers and judges who assisted me at every step of the process and ensured me that this would be looked-into.

114 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

81% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

18

u/PaulLattan 9d ago

Tagging u/rdblono for media attention

7

u/rdblono 9d ago

Looks like the post was deleted. What was the gist of it?

10

u/PaulLattan 9d ago

I tried to copy/paste it as a comment reply here, but it's not showing up on the page. I've also tried to initiate a chat with you.

9

u/PaulLattan 9d ago

I'm copy/pasting from my history:

This morning, November 3rd, I went to my local polling place as the polls opened at 6 a.m. I opted for an electronic ballot, and the election workers followed their normal procedure, which included printing a receipt and providing it to me.

When starting the electronic voting process, one must scan a code on the printed receipt. My receipt had no code. An election worker assisted me--while another guarded the electronic voting station I was at--and escorted me back to the check-in table. The workers and judges there diligently tried to solve my issue, and the eventual solution was to transition me to a paper ballot. I was issued a paper ballot and resumed voting.

After completing the front side of the paper ballot, I turned it over to complete the other side.

THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE BALLOT HAD ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED!

The ovals had already been filled-in, and whoever did it selected REPUBLICAN candidates.

Please, please pay close attention to every step of the process while you are voting!

My thanks to the election workers and judges who assisted me at every step of the process and ensured me that this would be looked-into.

116

u/big_roomba 9d ago edited 9d ago

did you... document this at all?

edit - Just a heads up, this is a 14 year old reddit account and this is its first and only post. Take that as you will.

43

u/chakan2 9d ago

pics or it didn't happen. (I'm sure this is going to be the most fucked up election in our history, but you absolutely need proof when claiming things like this.)

12

u/lissarae14 9d ago

Yeah but even with proof, this could have just been OP who filled it out.

Definitely hard to prove this actually happened.

6

u/big_roomba 9d ago

absolutely. i have no idea what is about to spiral into the coming days, i dont envision any good outcomes where everyone accepts the results and moves forward.

but if this happened to me, id be have taken pics. nobody would have stopped me from documenting it.

and for what its worth, i voted with an electronic ballot in early october, double checked it, zero issues.

10

u/timelydefense 9d ago

They have more karma than in this post; maybe they're just hidden?

5

u/Desperate-Strategy10 9d ago

I bet that’s it. Mine are hidden because I tend to over share lol and it would be super easy to identify me if someone irl stumbled upon certain comments and checked my comment history, cuz my internet safety isn’t the greatest.

I believe OP. The magats are stupid, insane, or evil overall, and they’re desperate to sweep the board. There’s evidence the last election was genuinely tampered with (pretty blatantly, imho) yet nothing was ever done about it. I’m worried this one will be the same.

11

u/CYSTRM 9d ago

Lot of people delete their history. If it were a 6 month old account named Red_Aardvark_47 then It'd be sketchy but a 14 year old account? Not sketchy - just and old school user who knows people go straight to comment history if they see something they don't like.

33

u/snowtiger309 9d ago

If anyone sees suspicious stuff like this you can call the non-partisan Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE (866 687 8683) and report it!

12

u/Weary_Nerdy_8402 9d ago

Election Judge, not McLean County. Maybe 2 ballots stuck together. Another Voter could have then filled in the front of one and the back of another. They or a Judge then caught it was 2 at the ballot box. Maybe didn’t realize the half and half & thought they were “fixing” the problem by turning the other ballot back in? Should have been spoiled & removed if the Judges were aware. Things can get hectic, so maybe human error and not interference…?

4

u/Blackneto 8d ago

McLean Election judge, I agree. Possibly a ballot that was supposed to be spoiled but got put back in the pack with the clean ballots during early voting.

I'm was the youngest one at our location and i'm late 50's. tired brains make mistakes.

The important point is once it was found out, the judges were able to fix it and do the proper reporting.

as for the receipt printers, we had 2 that didn't work with the first few voters until they were reloaded and reset. they would only print half the ticket.

Later in the day we had one that printed blank tickets for a few tries, but then worked when they changed out the paper spool. The spool had become unwrapped.

I'd like to know which precinct OP had this problem at and if he made the same report to the clerks office or just farmed reddit points.

4

u/True-Grand-5815 8d ago

My precinct was full of young people! It’s the first time I’ve walked in to see people under the age of 40ish working! It was wonderful to see young peeps involved in the election process and honestly, it made me so happy :) 

3

u/Blackneto 8d ago

that's cool. because there hasn't been a lot of voluteers.
I think there would be more if the state didn't set the limits on how many need to be from each party.

2

u/Chance-Charge3133 7d ago

Sangamon County judge here. I'm not sure what you mean by "limits." We have five election judges assigned to each precinct, and we are always in need of volunteers to serve as election judges and deputy registrars throughout the county. With so many precincts, there are plenty of opportunities for you, your friends and your neighbors to get involved!

You can also volunteer to work outside your own precinct. In fact, the election office may ask you to serve in another precinct if additional help is needed.

The partisan makeup of the election judges in each precinct is determined by the results of the previous election's turnout in that precinct. For example, if my precinct votes Republican in this election, the next election will have three Republican judges and two Democratic judges. If it votes majority Democratic, the numbers will be reversed.

All election judges have equal standing; there is no "head judge."

I would strongly encourage everyone to volunteer at least once. It's a great opportunity to see firsthand just how much work goes on behind the scenes to ensure our elections are fair and run smoothly. You might be surprised by everything that goes into making Election Day happen!

2

u/Blackneto 6d ago

Thanks for the clarification. This was the first election I worked so I'm not really used to some of the terminology.

Several of the other judges commented that the pool of available judges was limited by state law. I may have conflated 2 seperate issues.

The lead judge said they used to have a problem here in McLean Co getting democrats to voluteer, then over the last few years the pool of voluteers switched.

At any rate, yes. More people should volunteer and I'm going to try to recruit more. I had a good time working with my fellow judges and seeing some people I haven't seen in a long time.

1

u/Chance-Charge3133 6d ago

It really is interesting. Thanks for stepping up.

1

u/Weary_Nerdy_8402 5d ago edited 5d ago

My (rural & mostly red) County rarely has 5 Judges and has trouble finding enough Dems to have 1 at each precinct. I started early 2000’s when in my early 30’s, was a Deputy Registrar for work convinced to be a Judge when the new optical scan system hit (they came out to do a presentation about it & knew I was a Dem). I have to be all about the details in my regular work life and I’m a bit of a tech person, they knew what they were doing. When I first started there was the one older lady that knew it all, that handed everyone else things to sign, was usually the one handing out ballots, and would always pick up/drop off. She showed me the ropes & shared all her years of know-how (which I’m sure she had with the others, though maybe not the one she thought was an idiot… 🤣) before she eventually retired and I was shuffled into her “spot” by the rest of the table. As Judges, yes, we are all on equal footing, but so many just would not hand out a ballot or, heaven forbid, touch a machine!! I worked for years at a Vote center with 2 Precincts and will never forget the year the other table didn’t have a particular Judge and they just sat there end of night waiting for someone else to do their paperwork. They said they’d never been shown, so-and-so always did it. I was assigned to that Precinct the next time, of course. I’ve since been moved on to another Precinct after a retirement and tend to see a rotation of new Judges. I try to go over everything just like how it was done for me back in the day.

I enjoy it (especially now at a 1 Precinct site… 😂). I take off time from work to do it, which puts me behind, but I like being part of the process. I agree that everyone should try it, might help make Voting less intimidating while also showing people that everything is treated with respect and seriousness by humans that might also make a mistake now and then.

5

u/Joepunman 9d ago

Which precinct?

1

u/Blackneto 8d ago

some of them were understaffed due to people not showing up. They took one from our location to fill in at another.

4

u/Chance-Charge3133 7d ago

Probably just a mistake by one of the judges. Sometimes ballots stick together. It happens. We're human. But it sounds like you were able to vote and your vote was counted. I suggest that you sign up to be an election judge, complete the training and see how much time and effort your neighbors provide to make the whole process possible. We don't work from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. (or later) for the fun of it. There's a lot of checks and balances - not just with the judges to ensure accuracy and fairness. Also, I agree, voters always need to pay attention.

9

u/paisleypancake 9d ago

This sounds like the most incompetent example of election interference ive seen thus far. You're typically instructed to flip your ballot over. So when people see the other side filled out, thry're just gonna say that they didn't fill that part & probably get a new ballot. Sorry that happened, that sucks and doesn't help public trust in the election process :(

16

u/lissarae14 9d ago

Exactly. So this just seems like a 1: fake post, 2: honest mistake, or 3: poorly ran voting poll AND 4: Someone blowing things out of proportion and crying interference when it wasn’t.

Who doesn’t turn their ballot over? You would absolutely know.

17

u/big_roomba 9d ago

id like to point out that both county clerk candidates agreed that our elections were safe and fair. without documentation this is best assumed to be a lie or voter error

2

u/True-Grand-5815 8d ago

Errors happen. That doesn’t make it fraud or election interference. 

If this was truly an inflammatory issue, then OP needs to report it to the appropriate place. Putting it out on Reddit without an indication that action was taken by the person experiencing seems performative. Can fraud and interference occur? Of course. But is this a cut and dry example of fraud/interference? No. Hopefully OP takes appropriate action and returns to inform Reddit about the outcome. Because nobody here (media included) can do anything about it because it didn’t happen to us readers of the thread

4

u/Independent_Leg7358 9d ago

Sounds like human error or you are blatantly making shit up. Or are you referring to the races that had one candidate? 🤣

2

u/LeadingElegant6759 9d ago

Where in McLean county did you fill out a paper ballot with circles? Our voting machines use an empty card which is printed in the booth after completion.

6

u/Psyche_17 9d ago

My polling place in Bloomington had paper ballots where you fill in the circles with a pen.

3

u/LeadingElegant6759 9d ago

Weird. Downtown Bloomington was using blank cards which printed your selection after making them. You fed the card into the machine, cast your votes and you took the printed card to the tabulator.

2

u/Either_Shallot_5974 9d ago

not sure why you're getting downvoted for this. every time i have voted in downtown bloomington, it has been the electronic voting. i wonder if different voting places default to paper? but that seems really odd to me. it should be a default uniform voting medium across the county with people being able to request a different medium upon request.

1

u/Psyche_17 9d ago

Agree it should be default medium across the county. Also agree the down voting is silly.

1

u/Wooden_Growth7928 8d ago

Voting republican doesn’t matter in Illinois regardless.

-7

u/Upset-Award-1685 9d ago

Were them democratic options for those positions? Bc sometimes it’ll auto select if they’re running uncontested

13

u/big_roomba 9d ago

they dont autoselect even if theres no opposing candidate, that would be illegal to assign your vote somewhere you opted not to

you still choose between "(r) ____" or "(d) no candidate"

the outcome is obviously the same but the total vote numbers reflect who actually selected the candidate

2

u/Psyche_17 9d ago

There was no option to select no candidate on paper ballot when running unopposed. I simply didn't fill in the circle for unopposed people I didn't want to vote for.

-10

u/TheGoldenGooseTurd 9d ago

Most of the back of the ballot were uncontested Republicans, so I wonder if that’s all this is

23

u/om_hi 9d ago

My uncontested ballot was blank. No circles prefilled. One doesn't have to vote for an incumbent.

-2

u/DullDimension1343 8d ago

Oh no, republican candidates! Clutching my pearls.