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2 Election Judges Arrested, 2 Others Tossed From Polling Places

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two election judges in Chicago have been arrested for battery and two other election judges were tossed out of their polling places on Tuesday for misbehavior.

CBS 2's Pam Zekman reports that a female election judge was arrested for battery when she tried to stop a voter from inserting a provisional ballot into the electronic ballot counting machine at a polling place.

Chicago Board of Elections Chairman Langdon Neal said that provisional ballots are not supposed to be inserted in ballot counting machines because election officials must first determine if the voter was qualified to cast a ballot.

"The judge rushed the voter in an attempt to prevent her from putting the ballot in the ballot counter, tore the ballot and there was contact between them," Neal said.

The voter filed battery claim against the judge and Chicago police arrested her.

At another polling place, an election judge was arrested for battery following a dispute with a voter, Neal said.

"There was just a dispute between a voter and a judge and actually there was improper touching and … that judge was arrested also," Neal said.
Neal noted that there are approximately 15,000 election judges working at Chicago polling places on Tuesday and another 1,000 standby judges.

"So, all in all, while these are serious in totality, these are minor," Neal said.

Separately, an election judge was tossed out of a polling place in Chicago on Tuesday for showing up drunk. Another election judge was tossed out for threatening other judges at his polling place.

Meantime, a 53-year-old man was arrested for misdemeanor battery on the South Side when he snatched a ballot away from a voter.

Chicago police said that Reginald Taylor approached a woman who was attempting to vote at a polling place in the 1200 block of East 62nd Place at about 10:45 a.m. He allegedly pushed and then snatched the ballot away from this voter and told her she wouldn't be allowed to vote at that location.

Officials at the polling place called police and Tyler was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery.

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