Poll watcher accused of coaching voters

I suppose at some point this was bound to happen. The poll watcher Betty Hancock Perry was "trying to help voters" at the Lydia Healthcare Center in suburban Robbins, Illinois. However, it was observed that she was trying to help them cast votes for her boss John Stroger and discouraging votes for Stroger's opponent Forrest Claypool. She claimed that she was an elections judge and failed to provide the necessary credentials. When officials from the county clerk and the state's attorney's office arrived to investigate, Hancock Perry was out for lunch and never returned.

Hancock Perry lives near Stroger's 8th ward and is the county's director of contracts compliance. She was also a licensed poll watcher for the Stroger campaign. Stroger campaign spokesman Steve Mayberry (on leave from his job at the Cook County Forest Preserve District) said that Hancock Perry will no longer "be active or affiliated with the campaign".

In addition to posing as an elections judge Hancock Perry allegedly guided elderly voters in the Robbins healthcare center through their ballots. Here is a note on this...

But those credentials specifically state it is illegal for poll-watchers to touch election materials, including ballots, or to "interfere in any way with the election process or polling place operations."

Here's another note...

Hancock Perry has worked for Cook County since 1990 and, making more than
$103,000, is responsible for overseeing minority contracting on county projects.

Last year, she was subpoenaed as part of a federal investigation into questionable contracts doled out by the county and the minority certifications given to some firms.

Poll watcher accused of coaching voters from Chicago Sun-Times