Yesterday’s Worcester Telegram posted an article about the voter irregularities that occurred in Worcester during the recent election.  Nick Kotsopoulos, who wrote the article, suggests that those people protesting some of the behavior at the polling places had best not hold their breath waiting for satisfaction from state election officials about their complaints. 

The article reports:

“That’s because members of the group Neighbor to Neighbor apparently did not violate state election laws by accompanying people into the voting booth and supposedly telling them how to vote; in some instances, they even actually marked their ballots for them, as some poll observers said they witnessed in affidavits filed last week with the Worcester Election Commission.”

The article further reports:

“Neighbor to Neighbor workers were also seen bringing pre-marked sample ballots to the polls that told people they brought to the polls what address to give poll workers and whom to vote for, according to the affidavits.

“Under state law, voters who need assistance can bring anyone they want into the voting booth to provide the help they need, even having that person fill out their ballot for them, if they so wish.”

It seems to me that it might be time to re-examine the current law about going into the voting booth with people or marking their ballots for them.  The article points out that some Hispanic voters claimed to need interpreters, although ballots were printed in both Spanish and English.