Chicago election judges are crying foul on the Republican Party, Raw Story reports.
Two Republican Party committee members who were selected as election judges say they were told whom to vote for if they wanted to retain their Election Day jobs. The judges said their selection was withdrawn when they objected to being pressured on how to vote.
Committee member Charon Bryson said that election-committee members are picked on their voting records but that telling them whom to support is going too far.
“They were calling election judges, telling them to come in so they could get specific orders to vote for the Republican Party,” she said. “They should not be pressured or coerced into voting for someone to get a job, or to get an appointment.”
Bryson likened the episode to “buying a vote.”
There were also issues with robocalls and delays at polling places. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesman Jim Allen on Tuesday described the robocalls as “a new dirty trick” that resulted in long lines at polling places. Some election judges reportedly did not go in for the extra requisite training mentioned in the robocalls and therefore did not show up for work at polling stations.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, called for an investigation. “Somebody called with the intent to create confusion. Who did it? How did they get the list? Who paid for it? We have to get to the bottom of it,” Emanuel said.
The Cook County Republican Party has denied involvement in the robocalls.
Read more at Raw Story.