Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected token :

I have just solved the problem. There was something causing problems with a standard Request call, so this is the code I used instead:

vote.each(function(element){                
  element.addEvent('submit', function(e){
    e.stop();
    new Request.JSON({
      url : e.target.action, 
      onRequest : function(){
        spinner.show();
      },
      onComplete : function(){
        spinner.hide();
      },
      onSuccess : function(resp){
        var j = resp;
        if (!j) return false;
        var restaurant = element.getParent('.restaurant');
        restaurant.getElements('.votes')[0].set('html', j.votes + " vote(s)");
        $$('#restaurants .restaurant').pop().set('html', "Total Votes: " + j.totalvotes);
        buildRestaurantGraphs();
      }
    }).send(this);
  });
});

If anyone knows why the standard Request object was giving me problems I would love to know.