Balloting breakdown: Pa. voter attacks machine

‘He just snapped’ after encountering touch-screen gear, poll workers say

	12th Ward 1st District voting poll worker Shirley Rossetti, of Allentown, Pa., stands next to a voting machine at Good Shepherd Home that election workers said was smashed by a voter.
Cesar L. Laure / AP

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updated 9:14 p.m. ET Nov. 7, 2006

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A would-be voter in Pennsylvania was arrested Tuesday at a polling place in Allentown after smashing an electronic voting machine with a paperweight, according to poll workers.

Authorities didn’t know what caused the outburst.

“He came in here very peaceably and showed his ID, then he got on the machine and just snapped,” volunteer Gladys Pezoldt told the Morning Call of Allentown.

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The machine’s screen was damaged and it was not immediately clear if votes recorded on the machine could be retrieved.

Police said the man faced charges of felony criminal mischief and tampering with voting machines.