What a fake crazy day it was in upstate New York’s 23rd congressional district. First, news broke that the police had to be called to various polling stations because supporters of Conservative Doug Hoffman, covered in stickers, were “yelling anti-choice stuff at voters.” Intimidation! Or was it the protestors who were being intimidated? A spokesman for the pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony List claims, “At least three of our volunteers have been threatened with police when they’re not doing anything wrong.” She says that Democratic poll workers “are doing the only thing they can do: Intimidate.”
So who was intimidating whom? Maybe nobody, really. An elections commissioner told the Daily News, “We had electioneering within the 100-foot polling marker,” and the police were called to ensure the offenders moved at least 101 feet away “a routine procedure here in the county.” Those weren’t the only accusations of dirty tricks flying around today, however.
Hoffman himself got in on the action when he held a short press availability to reveal that a volunteer’s tires had been ruthlessly slashed! “I think the Democrats are doing anything they possibly can to steal this election away from the 23rd District,” he said. According to this theory, that one volunteer’s mobility was really integral to a Hoffman victory. But the Plattsburgh police looked into it and concluded that the tire was actually slashed by … a bottle in the road that the volunteer ran over! Captain Michael Branch somehow managed to keep his cool despite all the mayhem occurring around him today.
We only hope democracy survives this dark day.
NY-23: [UPDATE] Hoffman Accuses Democrats of ‘Stealing the Election’ [Washington Independent]
A Flat Tire Leads to Accusations in NY-23 Race [Washington Wire/WSJ]
Police Called To NY-23 Polling Sites (Updated) » [Daily Politics/NYDN]
NY-23: ‘Not Tremendous’ Turnout, Slashed Tires, Police [NYO]
