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PENNSYLVANIA: MORE PITTSBURGH PROVISIONAL PROBLEMS [Chris Lilik 11/02 02:33 PM]

Turns out Pittsburgh's Stan Shivell wasn't the only Pittsburgh Republican forced to fill out a provisional ballot instead of actually voting.

Duquesne law student Rhashea Harmon was also required to fill out a provisional ballot. Harmon, who had registered around two months ago, showed up to vote at her Democrat-heavy Swissvale polling location and was told that she was not on the voter rolls.

"I can't find your name," Rhashea was told.

Rhashea says her name wasn't found in the list of registered voters but was somehow found misfiled with other papers. She says they still wouldn't let her vote via machine and she was forced to fill out a provisional ballot.

"Regular ballots are tabulated election night, writes the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "But provisional ballots are set aside until officials consult registration records to determine whether voters had the right to cast them, [Washington] county Elections Director Larry Spahr said."

Rhashea said she "didn't feel comfortable filling it out on the table," since someone could potentially see who she voted for. "I was just going to do an absentee ballot but somebody who was registering people told me it would be better if I registered here," said Harmon, who is from Philadelphia.

Oddly enough, the information she received in the mail about her polling location was initially off as well. "It was a mix-up with the actual number of the address. The street number was fine," said Rhashea who believes that was "definitely [her] polling location."

"I'm not happy about it at all. I was kind of skeptical about it since in all my years of voting I never voted like that before. I was uncomfortable with that process."

According to a Bush staffer, the same thing just happened to her daughter's boyfriend, a freshman Pitt student and registered Republican. Like fellow city voters Harmon and Shivell, he was forced to fill out a provisional ballot instead of hitting the voting machine because he wasn't listed on the rolls.