After hearing poll watcher Dara on WMAL, many other
listeners weighed in on what they saw on Election Day:

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From Victor in Fairfax: I was a poll watcher in Fairfax
County, in a precinct in Annandale.
Several incidents occurred, all of which were reported by me to the
hotline given to me by the Republican Headquarters. Nothing happened, but I don’t
think it was because they were not interested, they were overwhelmed.

I called about 6 or 7 times to report the incidents. One of
the incidents included a young man of hispanic origin, did not speak a word of English,
he had another man with him and also had a voter registration card issued to
him by the State of Virginia. As he came to vote, they could not find his name.
I was right there next to the people who were checking the names. He did not
know his address, nor did he speak a word. The man with him did all the
talking. I stood right there next to the precinct captain as she was trying to
ask questions. I asked how old he was. He did not respond, but the man with him
said that “he is going to be 18″ I asked if he is 18 , he said he
will be in December, but he was told he can vote. As the captain was mulling
over the situation, I said, there is no way he is going to be allowed to vote,
that I will challenge the vote and I will immediately bring it up to the
attention of the authorities. She said to the man with him that she will give him
a provisional ballot until she checks the status; I immediately interjected
again telling her that absolutely no vote or no provisional ballot. He is not
eligible to vote under any circumstances. Eventually as I stood my ground, she
told the man with him that he can’t vote.

Another incident which involved 3 elderly voters who
approached the precinct captain with respect to an African American man in line
allegedly to vote, who was harassing them and intimidating them. Trying to
influence their vote. The issue went unanswered for a few minutes apparently
until the voters came in the voting area. At that time the election board
representative at the door apparently ignored the incident and blamed the
voters who complained. As I found out about it, which was at the time they were
giving their names and addresses, I went out to the door with the precinct
captain to address the issue; he was gone and ran out of the door. It is
alleged that the door representative was sympathizing with him and was insolent
to the voters.

Another incident involved another African American man who was just outside the
40 foot lin, just where the Republican sample ballot givers and across from
them on the other side of the pathway, the Democratic sample givers, who was
blocking intentionally the way towards the Republican table and he was
menacingly close to the 2 women handing out the ballots. When I saw him, I went
out approached him and confronted him about his behavior and asked him to move
to the other side of the pathway, first he refused, then he was approached by
the Democratic ballot giver and asked him to him to “cool it” and to
move to their side of the pathway. He did and then I went in the voting center.
As i watched from the glass door he would return towards the Republican side
and every time I walk out the door, he would leave. After realizing that I will
not give up or allow him to get away with it, he left the area completely.

Other irregularities consisted of people coming to vote and
did not live in the district, always with the excuse that they just moved. It
was as if everyone moved to this precinct, and that is a small district, to the
point that all the workers including the precinct captain acknowledged that
this was an unprecedented turn out, never seen before in this precinct. They
were given provisional ballots.

Another person showed up to vote with a Maryland driver’s
license with a Maryland address and a Virginia voter’s registration card with a
different address. He did not have any other ID. I intervened and called the
hotline, after which I was advised to challenge the vote, then they changed
their mind and told me to just accept the voter registration card, even as I
told them that he had no other IDs to prove who he was.

The conclusion I came to was that a large number of people
got their Virginia voter’s registration card somehow, even though they were not
entitled to vote in the district.

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From Joan in McLean, VA:

“When I got to the polls they told me I had already
voted, I hadn’t. They did take my driver’s license info for a provisional
ballot. Poll watchers made calls and said “let her vote this has happened
in other precincts today.” So I was allowed to vote. They believe the
other voter used a fake utility bill. A campaign person had come to my house
and had asked me if I was early voting, I told him no. That gave a window of
opportunity to show up and vote in my name before elect.”

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From Lynda in VA:

“I was a poll watcher for Project ORCA and experienced
some of the same issues the caller this morning experienced… We also had a
group of severely disabled people come in and the other republican poll watcher
witnessed one of the care givers saying, “you wanted to vote for Obama,
right?” The poll watcher cried foul and called the campaign. He also stood
there and witnessed the rest of those votes and wouldn’t allow the care givers
to tell them who to vote for. We also had a number of curb side voters. VA law
allows for that if you are elderly, but it was impossible to monitor all of it.
Romney lost that precinct, Robinson Secondary School, by 300 votes.”

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From Danny in Baileys Crossroads, VA:

“Thanks for running that segment this morning. The whole issue has been bothering me since
the election.

My observation was my polling place in Baileys Crossroads
had long lines. News reports had many
polling places across the region, state and many places in the nation with long
lines. Most observers reporting on the
election previous to Nov 6 noted energy and enthusiasm. Many people were turning out for rallies and
such.

If those observations were correct … and if absentee and
early voting were at record numbers, how then could there have been so many
fewer voters this cycle than last? Are a
certain amount of votes just simply “unaccounted” for? I hope you
guys keep asking questions.”

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From Jack in Dayton, MD:

I’ve been a check in
judge in Howard County, Maryland for two primaries, two general elections, and
one off year election… We did have three Latino females show up in the
evening, couldn’t answer the simple questions. They seem to have multiple
identification, names, and addresses. The Chief Judge had them vote
provincially, a hand written ballot. These women wanted to vote electronically.
There was a short argument. The River Hill precinct is very small 1400, the turnout
was 80%. We did have a large number of provincially.

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From Mary Ellen of Rhoadesville, VA:

Heard the conversation with the “poll observer” in
Thurs. While I was not at her precinct I
was an actual “election official” in my area. She had some points but may not have been
aware of some of the checks and balances built into the system. I feel that our vote was “clean”
where I was (one of the reasons I wanted to work at the polls). That said IF the head and assistant people
running that location wanted to cheat it could probably be done. Always love the show.

Mary Ellen

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From Anne in McLean, VA:

“I volunteered to work at polls for “absentee in
person early voting” at library in McLean, VA. had several busses pull in
loaded w/folks from retirement homes. Noted
by rep volunteers that the SR citizens only had one sample ballot until given
the second one (which outlined the amendment questions) bus drivers were none too thrilled and said they have all they
need. Good thing the amendments were
printed for the seniors to mull over while waiting. Thanks for good show.”

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From Bob in Springfield, VA:

“The polling situation on Nov 6 is worse than the id
related reports from the Woodbridge scenario. I’m a Precinct Capt. where I
live, and the id requirements for the WHOLE state of Virginia are so loose that
it was a meaningless effort in the polling places to attempt to verify identities
and voting status. For example, one person came in (a young man of about 28
years) with ONLY a power bill in his hands. NO ID — and NO way to verify who
he was — but the Polling Chief permitted his vote based on that piece of
mail. I later asked the polling chief
about this — that the person could have been holding ANYONE’s mail — and he
agreed but stated that the state of Virginia is allowing it. I’ve been doing this for years, and you’ve
got the hard truth on this.”

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From Carolyn in Gaithersburg, MD:

“I was listening this morning when your caller talked
about being a poll watcher in Virginia.
She didn’t mention that her job was supposed to be Poll Watcher and
Challenger — the most important part being the Challenger. She should have had forms with her to
Challenge any suspected voter fraud. All
she had to do was tell one of the Chief Election Judges in the facility and the
person challenged would only be allowed to vote Provisional, if at all. With 4 Repubs there, there were plenty of
Challengers to stop the fraud quickly if they had done their job
correctly. It’s too late now, Obama has
been re-elected. But going forward this
poll watcher/challenger needs better training.
I was a poll watcher/challenger in MD — people who had requested
absentee ballots, were not allowed to vote except provisional.”