Man claims judges allowed illegal voting
By Carolyn Tuft
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
04/06/2005

An East St. Louis poll watcher who was ordered to leave a polling place said Wednesday he had been complaining about election judges allowing illegal voting.

Kenneth Watts was escorted from the Precinct 17 polling place about 4:45 p.m. Watts, an unsuccessful candidate for precinct committeeman in the last election, said that his duty was to ensure that all ballots were cast by eligible voters.

Watts alleges that the judges ignored his complaints that they were allowing people to cast ballots even though they were not on the voter registration roll and, in many cases, did not live in the precinct.

"They were letting anyone vote," Watts said. "The judges told me to stop challenging people who were not eligible to vote. That was what I was there to do."

On Tuesday evening, East St. Louis Election Board Director James Lewis said Watts had to be removed after he kept bothering voters and interfering with judges. Watts denied being disruptive.

On Wednesday, Lewis said the election judges followed the law and Watts did not follow the proper procedure to challenge a voter.

Police Chief Marion Hubbard said Wednesday that he went to the polling place at the request of Lewis. Hubbard said when he got there, the election judges told him that Watts was causing a disturbance and wanted him removed. Hubbard said he ordered Watts to leave.

"It was a police matter," Hubbard said. "We did what we had to do to assure that we had a quiet, peaceful, fair election."

Watts said he arrived early in the morning at the precinct in his ward. He said he complained each time a judge allowed a person to cast a regular ballot even though the person's name did not appear on the voter roll.

State election rules say that judges can allow a person contending they should be on the voter rolls to cast a provisional ballot only after signing a sworn affidavit and providing identification. The judges must separate those provisional ballots from the regular ballots so they can be officially verified later. Only then can they be counted in the election.

Watts said that he complained because the judges were allowing those people to vote without making them show identification, prove they lived in the ward or sign an affidavit. He said that he watched as the judges put those ballots into the same ballot box with valid voters' ballots.

The FBI has already been investigating voter fraud in last November's election. Four people, including the former East St. Louis police chief, have been indicted on charges stemming from that investigation.