JINHA

ISTANBUL – As the time came for polls to close in Turkey, reports rained in from across Istanbul of unmarked vehicles spotted near polling stations. Observers are concerned that the black garbage bag found in one vehicle may be a bag full of votes.

In the Sultangazi neighborhood of Istanbul, at the Hüseyin Ersu Primary School polling station, HDP observers asked the police about the identity of an unmarked black car waiting in the school garden. Police replied that it was theirs. When HDP observer Herdem Sara (the Sultangazi district co-chair) insisted, police finally put the vehicle's plates back on. HDP observers saw black plastic bags being brought from the car just two hours before the vote count was set to begin.

At the Atatürk Middle School in the Güngören area of Istanbul, HDP observers and lawyers observed the same scenario and the same black plastic bags. They filmed the events and have succeeded in getting police to put the license plates on the car.

Observers also reported unmarked vehicles in Üsküdar and Maltepe in Istanbul. Police blocked voters trying to photograph the mysterious vehicles. The same reports have come in from Izmir, Diyarbakır, Konya and more provinces.

Meanwhile, reports continue to rain in across Turkey of confusing ballots that have caused voters to mistakenly vote for independent candidates. In many areas of Istanbul, inadequate amounts of ballots have been sent to the polls. HDP observers have been denied entrance to the polls in Istanbul's Pendik neighborhood. HDP and CHP observers have reported people being added to voter lists by hand in Üsküdar and one person voting three times in Sultanbeyli.

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