Election Officials Probe Use of 'Magic' Invisible Ink Pens in 49th Ward

The Chicago-Tribune reports:

Chicago election officials Tuesday afternoon were trying to unravel the mystery of the incredible invisible ink.

It's no Agatha Christie novel but a real case for election investigators sent to the 49th Ward's 42nd precinct Tuesday morning, after 20 ballots were cast with "magic" invisible ink pens.

Election officials just smirked, shook their heads in disbelief and called it the most bizarre election snafu in recent memory.

Apparently, said city election board spokesman James Allen, the poll workers told incredulous voters—including one spouse of an election judge—that the stylus used for touch-screen voting was actually an inkless pen to fill out paper ballots.

"You spend months trying to prepare for every contingency," Allen said. "Trying to anticipate every possible way people might be confused . . . then this? Incredible."

Even the ballot scanning machine knew better, he said, rejecting all 20 ballots as blank.

"Each time, the judges overrode the scanner and recorded the vote," he said.

By 3 p.m., only five of the 20 voters had been contacted to return to recast their votes.

"I'm incredibly angry, and I feel so dumb," said Amy Carlton, 38, of Rogers Park. "And I am not a dumb person."

Carlton said all the judges at the polling place insisted that they had been trained in the use of the "magic" pens.

"I've voted before," Carlton said. "I was thinking, 'This is crazy,' but when someone in authority insists, what are you supposed to do?"

Election officials were encouraging any affected voters to call 312-269-7870. They said those voters can recast their votes if they return to the polling place.

Democratic judge Diane Flowers reaches for a new ballot for Geraldine Cobbs (far right), who spoiled her ballot by going over the lines at the LaFollette Park field house in Chicago's 37th Ward on Tuesday. (Tribune photo by Chuck Berman)

Chicago Police Taser 82-Year-Old Woman

The Guardian reports:

Chicago's Police Department is investigating an officer's use of a Taser last month on an 82-year-old woman who police say was swinging a hammer when they arrived.

Lillian Fletcher was rushed to the hospital after being jolted by the Taser last week but has been released, police said Tuesday.

Officials with the city's Department on Aging went to her home Oct. 29 to make a welfare check and called police when they saw Fletcher in a window swinging a hammer, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said Tuesday.

Officers arrived and in an attempt to subdue Fletcher, one of them used a Taser, Bond said. The department is trying to determine whether the officer violated department policy on the use of stun guns.

Fletcher said Tuesday that officers pushed their way into her home. ``They shocked me,'' she said.

Fletcher at times sounded confused during the telephone interview. Her granddaughter Traci Taylor told the Chicago Sun-Times that her grandmother has schizophrenia and dementia.

``My grandmother is easily confused,'' Taylor told the newspaper, adding that the woman can be belligerent but is about 5 feet 1 and weighs no more than 160 pounds.

``I just don't think they should be Tasing 82-year-old women. That's ridiculous,'' Taylor said.

Tasers use compressed nitrogen to fire two barbed darts that can penetrate clothing to deliver a 50,000-volt shock to immobilize people.

Touted by law enforcement officials as less lethal than other ways of subduing combative people in high-risk situations, the weapons have come under criticism nationwide after they were blamed for several deaths.

In 2005, the police superintendent at the time suspended the distribution of stun guns after the deaths of two people who had been hit by police with Tasers.

Today, about 150 field training officers are set to be issued new Tasers, and about 200 sergeants have had the weapons for about five years, Bond said.

The human rights group Amnesty International USA has voiced concerns that police departments are starting to use Tasers more routinely rather than in cases of serious danger.

Taser use by police drew national attention recently when police stunned and arrested a University of Florida student after his fervent, videotaped outburst at an event with Sen. John Kerry in September.

In Ohio, a patrolman accused of repeatedly jolting a woman who had been arrested with a Taser gun faces a disciplinary hearing Friday, The Tribune Chronicle of Warren reported. The woman had been arrested because she was acting unruly at a bar, police said.

Members of Congress Try To Live On Food Stamps For One Week

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, shops for food on a $21-a-week budget at a grocery store in Washington. Ryan later said he made some poor shopping choices.

The Washington Post reports:
A pork chop and a bag of peanuts proved too tempting for Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, one of four members of Congress who has struggled for the past week to subsist on $21 worth of food — the equivalent of benefits received by the average food-stamp recipient.

Last Friday night, in New Hampshire to deliver a commencement speech, Ryan succumbed to a pork chop in the hotel restaurant because he feared he would otherwise be too weak to give the address.

Afterward, as he rushed to catch a flight back to Washington, airport-security officials confiscated jars of peanut butter and jelly from his carry-on luggage, leaving him with nothing but a small bag of cornmeal to eat in the final days of the "Food Stamp Challenge," which ended Tuesday.

"It just showed me that when you're living on food stamps, you're really one event away from disaster," he said. "If you drop a jar of sauce or jam, you can lose an opportunity to eat. Some people are constantly living on that edge."

So Monday, in the Cleveland airport on his way back to Washington from a funeral, Ryan bought a bag of peanuts. "I feel bad I couldn't do it the whole time, but I certainly got the point," said the lawmaker, who lost four pounds during the week and ended his test early, with dinner at a Washington restaurant Monday night.

He said he came away with two conclusions: He made some poor choices when he shopped for the $21 worth of food, and the country's food-stamp program is not sufficient for the 26 million Americans who rely on it.

Reps. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., co-chairmen of the House Hunger Caucus, called on lawmakers to join them in taking the challenge to raise awareness of hunger and what they say are inadequate benefits for food-stamp recipients. Only Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Ryan took them up on it.

"I've been a little low on energy, but I feel guilty about complaining about anything," said McGovern, who took the challenge with his wife; each lost about five pounds. "For us, this is an exercise that ends Tuesday. For millions of people, this is their life."

Food-stamp benefits are roughly $1 a meal, or $3 a day. With that budget, the lawmakers said, they found that starchy foods are attractively priced and that there was little chance for variety.

"No organic foods, no fresh vegetables — we were looking for the cheapest of everything," McGovern said. "We got spaghetti and hamburger meat that was high in fat — the fattiest meat on the shelf. ... It's almost impossible to make healthy choices on a food-stamp diet."

McGovern said he faced down many temptations at several receptions and fundraisers — duck rolls, crab cakes, red wine. "Every time I thought, 'I wish I could have that scallop wrapped in bacon,' at the back of mind I thought, 'Why are you complaining? This is the way people live every day.' "

McGovern and Ryan blogged about their experiences and received hundreds of comments from people nationwide, including food-stamp recipients who offered recipes and tricks to stretch meals.

"I was so deeply touched by the comments," said McGovern's wife, Lisa. "I was even struck by the angry remarks. One person was dismissive, but he gave a recipe for a biscuit. That was remarkable. ... It showed me there are people out there who are struggling, and it's neighbors and friends. You don't have to look to some faraway place to see it."

McGovern and Emerson have introduced legislation that would add $4 billion to the annual federal food-stamp budget, which was $33 billion last year. The proposal could be incorporated into the new farm bill.

McGovern said Monday that he had not given a lot of thought to what he will eat as he returns to his more typical diet. "I want a cup of coffee — or five," he said. "... And not lentils. I've had enough lentils for three years."