Overheard at Philly polling place: No GOP votes 'on my machine!'

An elderly couple wanted to vote for the Republican in a 2017 special election in North Philadelphia.

First they were told they had to go “get a stamp” outside the polling place — where Democrats handed out stamps for write-in candidates. Then, when an Election Board worker heard they wanted to vote Republican, a witness heard him bellow: “Not on my machine!” And though they both said they eventually cast ballots, in the end only one GOP vote was recorded at the polling place.

Those were some of the allegations to emerge this week from the investigation into Election Board workers who allegedly interfered with the March 21 race for the state House’s 197th District. Four Democrats are awaiting trial on charges of committing fraud, intimidating voters and tampering with public records at the polling site at the Esperanza Health Center in the 43rd Ward.

Though state prosecutors say the outcome of the election wasn’t compromised — the ward’s Democratic leader, Emilio Vazquez, won with 73.5 percent of the vote, via write-ins — the case offers a window into supposed dirty election operations by some in the city’s powerful Democratic machine, in an area where several political shenanigans have been reported over the years. Fair or not, the allegations could feed the perception among Republicans (and some Democrats) that election mischief is rampant in parts of Philadelphia.

During a preliminary hearing Monday for two of the Election Board workers — Dolores Shaw, the judge of elections, and Thurman George, the machine inspector — voters from the site made several notable claims under oath:

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