The [1] Boston Metro published an article on Nov 5, 2008 that, “…some voters in Chinatown were perplexed by a sample ballot that was being passed out apparently by an advocacy group to those waiting in line at The Metropolitan building on Oak Street.”

Then, a visitor to the Chinatown Blog, [2] posted this comment : “As a Chinatown resident, I was very displeased to find that the ’sample ballot’ handed out while I waited in line to vote yesterday was actually ILLEGAL propaganda being distributed to voters. The ’sample ballots’ were already filled-in, and I saw voters using the samples as references for their votes! They were being handed out by an ‘advocacy’ group. I plan to do whatever it takes to bring attention to the illegal actions of the group.”

The Chinatown Blogger sent an email to the commenter if he had a copy of the sample ballot, whether if he knew which “advocacy group” they were from, and that he should forward any formal complaints to the City of Boston’s Elections Department. So far, this commenter has not replied.

Without some form of evidence and with such a short paragraph by the Metro newspaper as is their standard,  accusations of “illegal actions” may be too premature and even unwarranted unless there is clear evidence. To find out more on what actually happened, the Chinatown Blogger sent out inquiries by email and made some phone calls to investigate. The word is that Sample Ballots were distributed by the City of Boston legally to assist in voter education and registration, particularly to help communities with large limited-English speaking voters. The ballots are marked clearly as SAMPLE BALLOT and cannot be used as an actual ballot in the voting booths.

In regards to passing of literature outside of the voting booths, the law stipulates that campaign workers/volunteers can pass out literature to voters as long as the workers are 150 feet away from the voting booths. However, due to the density of Boston streets, sometimes 150 feet is not possible and at the Metropolitan voting place at 38 Oak Street, the poll workers/volunteers were instructed to stay outside of the courtyard beyond the metal gates.

From my inquiries, the director of the Chinese Progressive Association, a community organization based in Chinatown, wrote a response:

“Lydia Lowe, Director, Chinese Progressive Association
Reports on Tuesday’s election in the Chinatown Blog, Boston Globe and the Metro referred to potentially illegal electioneering by “an advocacy group.” One report charged that two volunteers of this organization were telling people whom to vote for in Chinese close to the polls, and another report claimed that the advocacy group was distributing sample ballots with bubbles filled in for all races but the presidency.

Since the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) was the main non-profit advocacy group distributing literature outside at the polls yesterday, I want to clarify that none of our staff or representatives took part in any such electioneering. CPA conducted strictly non-partisan activity focused on distributing flyers opposed to Question One, provided a poster-sized version of a blank sample ballot that was fully translated into Chinese (including Chinese transliterations of candidate names), set up chairs all along the waiting line to accommodate elderly voters, and provided transportation to the polls from several elderly housing developments. CPA took no position on any of the candidates, and CPA representatives would never tell voters whom to select. We always distribute blank sample ballots, which are fully bilingual, in advance of the election, in order to allow Chinese-speaking voters to prepare and mark their own selections so that they have their own “key” to use when they enter the voting booth.

From what I observed, other campaign volunteers encouraged support for one candidate or another, and there was indeed a campaign piece in circulation that used a replica of the sample ballot and marked a slate of choices, but I believe all of this campaigning occurred legally, outside of the Metropolitan courtyard, an area determined by the warden to be a sufficient distance from the poll entrance.”