Party Loyalty Runs High - Physical Assault Occurs at Ohio Nursing Home Over Ballot
The day began as planned - two teams of poll workers were sent to the Gardens of Western Reserve nursing home in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio to assist elderly residents in voting. Early voting for nursing home residents is common as the residents would not be able to get out to vote otherwise.
The problem began around noon. Seventy-five year old Republican George Manos and seventy-three year old Democrat Edith Walker were assisting another resident with her ballot. The voting resident wanted to vote for John McCain, but her ballot was marked for Barack Obama. Somewhere along the way, events spun out of control.
Manos accused Walker of ballot tampering and says that he tried to get the ballot out of Walker's hand, but she refused to show him the ballot. Walker says that Manos accused her of marking the ballot incorrectly and that Manos was mean to her. The altercation escalated when Walker jumped onto Manos' back and struck him in the head three to four times. It took two other election workers to pull Walker off of Manos' back. Manos wants to prosecute.
The ballot was indeed marked incorrectly. AFter the tussel ended, the ballot was actually marked for both candidates. The voting resident was provided with another ballot and was finally able to vote for her chosen candidate.
