Ward Bosses

AP Story - November 18, 2008

GRINNELL, Iowa - A Deep River woman wants to change a state law to require that mentally disabled voters be supervised when they cast a ballot. She was upset when staff at a group home in Grinnell took her 26-year-old son, who is developmentally disabled, to vote on Election Day against her wishes. She said she's not trying to take away a person's right to vote. "It's just that a lot of us, (group) homes and parents, need to work together and agree on what's best for our loved ones."

The woman, who has guardianship over most of her son's legal decisions, unsuccessfully challenged his ballot. She supported Republican John McCain and her son voted for Democrat Barack Obama, but said that's not why she challenged him. She didn't think he had the capacity to choose for himself.

It was at least the second case in which a relative challenged a family member's ballot in this month's presidential election in Iowa. In Council Bluffs, a woman challenged her elderly mother's absentee ballot, claiming her mother suffered from dementia and was coerced into casting the ballot by Democratic campaign workers who were going door-to-door asking potential voters if they wanted an absentee ballot. In that case, the woman supported McCain and her mother reportedly voted for Obama. That challenge was also unsuccessful.

Think there has ever been a case where the guardian challenged the vote of a ward who voted for the same candidate as the guardian?