NYT: Kentucky Poll Worker Chokes Voter

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-ELN-Poll-Worker-Assault.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1162922425-kcdJcFzqvsNK5OO4jLVsRQ

Ky. Poll Worker Charged With Assault
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 7, 2006
Filed at 12:40 p.m. ET

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A poll worker was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault and interfering with an election for allegedly choking a voter and pushing the voter out the door, an official said.

Election officials called police, and the voter wanted to file charges, said Paula McCraney, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Clerk.

''That about tops off the day,'' McCraney said.

It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the altercation. The name of the poll worker was not released and a Louisville police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

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[Vorta]

1. It's about time Americans showed some real passion.

I hope to riotous celebration if we win, and just plain riots if we lose.

[Bubba Zanetti]

2. We have already won the election

I am really not worried at all. It is over. Period.

[KyndCulture]

3. Great, I'm proud to be in KY.... sheesh.

Had to be about the Yarmuth race.

[Quiet_Dem_Mom]

4. I think that poll worker missed his calling. He should be working for Sherwood's campaign!

:hide: Sorry, just a newbie cracking wise!

:rofl:

[symbolman]

6. And a GOOD ONE too LOL

Welcome to the DU, you'll be a good addition, keep up the humor, it's what gets up through it all :)

[Maraya1969]

8. We love wise cracks here Quiet Dem!

Welcome to DU! :yourock:

[northernsoul]

9. I heard George MacacAllen is looking for a few good thugs

Just ask Mike Stark.

[kentuck]

5. I remember....

once in a local election back home, a man named Jones cut his brother with a knife over an argument at the polls... Kentuckians have always taken their politics much too seriously, I suppose?

[rodeodance]

7. well, certainly some have.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

14. I remember years ago in my home town that two brothers

were running against each other for Judge. One a Dem, the other Repug and it was the dirtiest campaign that I have ever seen. Those two "boys" marched out every single skeleton from the familial closet, verbally called each other names, smear each of the other's wife, children, etc. They ended up threatening to kill the other and I believe at one time weapons were brandished around although never used. All this for a part time job (at that time) with a salary of approximately $5,000 a year.

Their stupid little fight divided a town for years. Both were successful attorneys with visions of high office. Fortunately their nasty initial adventure into public service pretty much killed any ideas of Governor for both of the jerks.

And I won't even go into the tale about the Sheriff who got several DUIs, finally lost his license (all while Sheriff) and ended up riding a mule into the office every day for a year or more. He later ran for re-election and won.

Kentucky - where politics are conducted as a contact sport.

[Hubert Flottz]

18. Check out this election story...

Hatfield-McCoy Feud

Seventy-five years ago today was the beginning of some terrible times along the Tug River. At that time, what is now Mingo County was a part of Logan, home of the Hatfields. Across the Tug is Pike County, home of the McCoys.

Aug. 7, 1882, fell on a Monday and they were having an election in Kentucky. If you are up on the history of Kentucky you are well acquainted with the fact that an election in Kentucky is an occasion on which anything can happen - and usually does. They were voting that day on the usual state and county offices and on whether to increase the school tax. Such elections were days when the men of the mountains of Kentucky not only looked on the wine when it is red but maintained close communion with the mule when it is white.

Many are the tales one might tell about that election of three- quarters of a century ago but only one must suffice for today. On Blackberry Creek, a tributary of the Tug, the polls were open at sunrise. This particular polling place was on Hatfield Branch, a small run that empties into Blackberry just above Mateways, W.Va. Jerry Hatfield's home was there.

Across Turkey Foot Ridge on Blackberry Fork of Pond Creek stood the cabin of Randolph McCoy, who had a bunch of bad boys. Hatfields lived on both the West Virginia and Kentucky sides of the Tug and they had some bad boys, too. MORE...

http://www.wvculture.org/history/crime/hatfieldmccoy01.html

Matewan

Matewan in Mingo County, W.Va., has intrigued visitors and inspired folklore for over one hundred years. In the 1880s, the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys raged near Matewan. Forty years later, the town was the scene of a fatal conflict between mine workers and coal operators.

On election day, August 7, 1882, three sons of Randolph McCoy brutally stabbed and shot Ellison Hatfield, brother of Devil Anse Hatfield, in Pike County, Ky. Ellison was carried across the Tug Fork River and died at the Anderson Ferrell House. After Ellison died, Devil Anse executed the three McCoys across the Tug in Kentucky, near present-day Matewan.

No one knows what triggered the murder of Ellison, but these tragic events brought a notoriety to the Tug Fork Valley which made national headlines and created a violent image of Appalachian West Virginia and Kentucky. Kentucky bounty hunters made raids into West Virginia to capture the Hatfields during the 1880s, and the Hatfields retaliated in 1888 by attacking the McCoy homestead in Kentucky, killing a son and daughter and seriously wounding Randolph's wife. By 1890 the killings had ended, but the feud continued to be sensationalized by journalists for years to come.

Located on the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, Matewan was founded in 1895 when the Norfolk and Western Railway entered the valley to open the Williamson coal field. MORE...

http://www.williamsondailynews.com/tourism/matewan/

Maybe we need to get back to our roots, to keep these damned GOPers straight!

[Catherine Vincent]

10. I don't know what good this article is if we don't know what

the altercation was about or if it was a (R) or a (D) that did the choking. I'm betting it was a (R). :)

[niyad]

11. bet the poll worker is a repuke and the victim a dem!

[kentuck]

12. I wouldn't bet on that!

:)

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

13. Good grief!

I checked this out pretty quick. My mom is a poll worker today here in KY and she's known to get a little cranky. Wrong city, thank god. I plan on spending tonight celebrating, not bailing mummy out of jail :P

[Democrat 4 Ever]

17. Oh, heck, do it up right. Really celebrate and join mummy on the cell block!

The family that celebrates elections together, stay together.:evilgrin:

[Bake]

15. Ah yes, I miss Kentucky sometimes!

:rofl:

Bake

[Clintmax]

16. Wow. Just wow.

:wow:

[RiverStone]

19. I heard Karl Rove was in Ky. Even matched the description of the "poll worker".

[IntravenousDemilo]

20. I've been a poll worker countless times, and I've felt like doing just that countless times.

But I didn't, 'cause that would be so very, very, very wrong.

Still, voters can be remarkably dense. In Canadian elections, we are officially not allowed to post the names of the candidates within the polling place. We post them outside on the door. What's more, party affiliations are not generally listed on the ballots themselves, just the candidate names, but the list outside names the parties as well.

One time when I was a deputy returning officer, the umpteenth voter asked, "Who do I vote for?"

I said, "I work for Elections Canada and I have to be non-partisan, so I can't advise you..."

"No, I mean, which one is the Conservative?"

Well, something inside me finally snapped and I said, "Sir, do you live in this riding?"

"Yeah."

"Have you walked around the neighbourhood in, oh, say, the last month or so?"

"Yeah."

"Did you see any big, splashy, colourful lawn signs with people's names and photographs on them? The red signs would be for the Liberals, the blue for the Conservatives, the orange for the New Democrats, the green for the Greens. Have you seen any large blue signs?"

"Yeah, a few."

"Did you pay attention and find your candidate's name on the signs?"

"No."

"If you as a citizen can't be bothered to do that one simple thing, why should I bother to give you a ballot? Go find the name of your candidate on the list posted outside and then come back."

"The parties are on there?"

"M-hm."

"And you'll give me my ballot then?"

"Legally, I have to give it to you now if you insist, but you won't know which candidate to pick, and once the ballot is in your hands, you can't leave the room to check on the list. So I suggest you go take a look and come see me again."

"Can't you just tell me?"

"I can, but I won't. There's no line-up here, so go look. It'll just be 30 extra seconds of your time."

"You're just being a dick."

"Yes. Yes I am. You want your ballot now, then?"

"No, I'll go look."

"Thank you. I'll be right here when you get back."

[laundry_queen]

21. That must've been awhile ago.

Every election I've ever voted in had the party beside it, I'm sure of it.

[IntravenousDemilo]

23. It was.

I've been doing the elections since about 1980, provincially and federally, both here in Toronto and back home in Regina.

We had a provincial byelection in my riding (Parkdale-High Park) back in September, and I was in charge of my poll. The ballots just had the names, but no parties.

So, what part of the country are you in?

[Igel]

22. There have been poll workers I've felt like doing that to.

Seriously.