Problems, Panthers surface at Pa. polls

Problems at the polls surfaced early Tuesday in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, with Republican election monitors being turned away from polling places and members of the New Black Panther Party appearing at voting sites in Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania Republican officials said 75 election monitors from the party were turned away from polling places in heavily Democratic sections of Philadelphia Tuesday, but a judge has ordered them reinstated.
“It certainly raises the question, what are Democrats doing in the polls that they are working so hard to shield folks from monitoring in this election?” state Republican chairman Rob Gleason said in a statement.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has turned his attention to Pennsylvania in the final days of the race, as polls there have tightened in a state that President Obama’s campaign believed it would win fairly easily. Mr. Romney turned out about 30,000 supporters Sunday night at a rally in the Philadelphia suburbs.
The New Black Panther Party was back at the polls Tuesday in Philadelphia, where its members provoked a complaint of voter intimidation in 2008.