The following is a blog entry I made after the 2003 General Election in Indianapolis.

I want to preface this entry by saying that while it reflects my experience at a couple of polling places inside a heavily Democratic district, I have no doubt at all that the experiences could have been similar had I visited a heavily Republican district. My firm belief is that both of the major parties engage in all manner of fraud and dirty tricks.

Some were talking about calling in the UN to oversee US elections, to ensure fairness. These critics mainly had Florida and other battleground states in mind. I contend that any polling place that sits in an area where one major party enjoys a significant advantage is ripe for petty cheating that amounts to shaving a few points here, padding a few votes there. Among these critics was Julia Carson, 7th District US Representative from Indiana. My report is from the heart of the 7th District.

And: Hugh Hewitt is wrong. If it ain't close, they are more likely to cheat.

A Boatload of Impropriety

Ever since arriving in Indy, I had heard from fellow Libertarians that the inner city Marion County Democrats used a lot of dirty tricks at the polling place. I took it all with a grain of salt because I have held the belief that both the GOP and the Dems use dirty tricks. Historically, for every Democratic Boss Tweed, there was a Republican Boss Cox. I never reacted too sharply on behalf of accusers, because they lacked mirrors. Recall the Dems who could point to Florida in 2000 while ignoring their own tactic of using cigarettes to lure the homeless to the polls in Minnesota, where voters can be registered at the polls on election day.

Anyhow, I strongly doubted that much of this nonsense would transpire in an election featuring a mayor's race that was a foregone conclusion a full year before the election. Boy, was I wrong.

The polls opened at 6:00am, and I arrived at my home polling place to vote at 6:02. At 6:14, I arrived at another polling place, Trinity Episcopal Church, to serve as a poll watcher. Immediately, I found a girl distributing literature for the Democrats beyond the 'no electioneering beyond this point' sign. I advised her that she had to be on the right side of the line, to which she responded, "it's dark outside". As the sign did not read, 'no electioneering beyond this point unless it's dark outside,' I had her move, advising her that I would be outside with her if she needed to feel safe. I went inside to advise the judge, who turned out to be a Democrat. He also pointed to the darkness, and I reiterated my point. He made a snide remark about Libertarians being election day amateurs and Democrats being 'professionals'. I discovered that the Democratic precinct committeewoman was the mother of the Judge. She was also the wife of an inspector, and the mother of another paid election official. Another of her sons sat inside wearing a baseball cap promoting Democratic at-large candidate "King Ro" Conley. There was a pile of Democratic literature sitting on a chair 15 feet from the poll.