Democracy Gone Wild: Mob Scenes and "Invisible Ink"

In one of the strangest headlines of recent times, the ABQ Journal website has an AP story it entitles "Overall, Voting Goes Well" followed by story after story of how chaotic the New Mexico Democratic voting really was. You gotta hand it to people passionate enough to stand in line for three hours to vote in a "caucus", but you can't really call that "going well". To wit:

"Chaos is going on," frustrated voter Angela Starkey said at Mary Ann Binford Elementary School in Albuquerque. She reported a mob scene and party workers unable to make order of the crowd. "People yelling and screaming. I stood in line for over an hour and I left (without voting.)"

Yup, overall things went well...

But my favorite "Officer, please, for God's sake, they're looting the Food King!" Super Tuesday anecdote comes from Chicago and the very AP story with the "Overall, Voting Went Well" headline:

Some votes were apparently lost, however, when about 20 voters at a Chicago precinct were given styluses designed for touch-screen machines instead of ink pens. When voters complained the styluses made no marks on their paper ballots, an official told them the devices contained invisible ink.
"After 20 people experienced the same problem, somebody said, 'Wait, we've got 20 ballots where nobody's voted for anything,' '' Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen said. Officials were trying to contact the voters; Allen said the voters and the judge believed the invisible-ink theory.

As the Kevin Bacon character screams in "Animal House" just before the "Food King" line stolen above: "Remain calm! All is Well!" I think he also adds..."it's alright, it's invisible ink!"

And then the Kevin Bacon character gets flattened by a mob not unlike that which stood outside for hours at several places around Albuquerque yesterday.


P.S.: And oh yeah, we still don't know who "won" New Mexico yet. So overall, things are pretty much in control and normal around here.