There are typos and then there are complete and utter catastrophes.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the name of Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is misspelled “Rich Whitey” on electronic-voting machines in 23 wards — “about half in predominantly African-American areas.” The error only occurs on screens voters would see when they are reviewing their choices (Whitney’s name appears correctly on the initial screens), but officials say the error cannot be corrected before election day.
Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Elections, told the Sun-Times he expects 90% of votes on election day to be cast on paper ballots — minimizing the number of voters who would see the misspelling.
“I don’t want to be identified as ‘Whitey.’ If this is happening in primarily African-American wards, that’s an even bigger concern,” Whitney told the Sun-Times. The paper says he’s considering legal action. “I don’t know if this is machine politics at play or why this happened.”
The latest Rasmussen poll shows Whitney drawing just 2% of the vote.
(h/t Drudge Report)
Eric Lach
Eric Lach is a reporter for TPM. From 2010 to 2011, he was a news writer in charge of the website’s front page. He has previously written for The Daily, NewYorker.com, GlobalPost and other publications. He can be reached at ericl(at)talkingpointsmemo.com
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