A few hiccups
Goeke
Margaret Gillerman reports back with an update from the St. Louis County elections board where Republican Director of Elections Joe Goeke said this morning that the biggest problem was that voters were walking away with pens.
Now he says there might have been “a few hiccups.”
In a news conference this afternoon, Goeke acknowledged long waiting times in certain areas in the county. More people requested paper ballots — and fewer used touchscreens — than officials had predicted, he said. Officials had to send more paper ballots to some places.
On the plus side, he said, there were no allegations of improperly registered voters, as have marred previous elections.
Goeke also addressed reports that voters felt intimidated by the presence of police officers at the polls. He said the board had asked municipalities to have officers on hand to keep the peace when polls closed, but but that some (he named Northwoods) added officers during the day, too.
He said there was no attempt to indimidate voters.
Another elections news conference is set for 4 p.m. The P-D’s Michele Munz will be there and she’ll be pressing Goeke about the situation in Velda City.
Missouri law (in the Constitution) protects voters from police action on the way to, from, and even inside the polls, with the exception of breach of the peace, felony, and treason. With that in mind, I have used officers during horrible storms to ensure that elder voters had rides to their cars if they were parked further out and were using walkers, and almost decided to use an officer yesterday to provide traffic control in the lot, so no one got run over in the dark trying cross the street. I did not have to though, because we were able to move people quick enough that speces were opening up. I would not hesitate to use an officer if necessary, though, because the voters have constitutional protections.
So Goeke thinks most of the problems were with the voters? Where was the Post when he was SCREAMING at the voters in long lines at the Board of Elections before election day? Talk about intimidation! Looks to me like he’s the problem - remember folks, he’s the one who didn’t order enough paper ballots.