Fraud? No, spider delays Mass. town’s vote count

REHOBOTH, Massachusetts: It wasn’t hanging chads or voter fraud that delayed the vote count in one Massachusetts town — it was a spider. Rehoboth (ruh-HOH’-buth) Town Clerk Kathleen Conti says one of the town’s aging voting machines malfunctioned Tuesday morning. She called a technician, who said a spider web apparently prevented the machine’s scanner from counting ballots. Conti tells The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro all Rehoboth’s voting machines received preventive maintenance a month ago. The vote count wasn’t completed until Wednesday afternoon. Rehoboth voters favored Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney and incumbent Republican US Sen. Scott Brown, but went for Democratic US House candidate Joseph Kennedy III.