diff --git a/gracedb/events/view_logic.py b/gracedb/events/view_logic.py
index 31b9eb51f95757681210cb4f5899bb973ae00318..9e496d29f134dcb4e0758a987c470a802c4baa82 100644
--- a/gracedb/events/view_logic.py
+++ b/gracedb/events/view_logic.py
@@ -22,10 +22,11 @@ from core.vfile import VersionedFile
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
 from django.contrib.auth.models import Permission
 from django.contrib.auth.models import Group as AuthGroup
+from django.conf import settings
 from guardian.models import GroupObjectPermission
 
 import os
-from django.conf import settings
+import six
 
 import json
 import datetime
@@ -492,7 +493,7 @@ def create_eel(d, event, user):
 #
 # Create an EMBB Observaton Record
 #
-def create_emobservation(request, event):    
+def create_emobservation(request, event):
     d = getattr(request, 'data', None)
     if not d:
         d = getattr(request, 'POST', None)
@@ -532,6 +533,19 @@ def create_emobservation(request, event):
     except Exception, e:
         raise ValueError('Lacking input: %s' % str(e))
 
+    # Handle case where comma-separated strings are submitted rather than lists
+    if isinstance(raList, six.string_types):
+        raList = map(lambda x: float(x.strip()), raList.split(','))
+    if isinstance(raWidthList, six.string_types):
+        raWidthList = map(lambda x: float(x.strip()), raWidthList.split(','))
+    if isinstance(decList, six.string_types):
+        decList = map(lambda x: float(x.strip()), decList.split(','))
+    if isinstance(decWidthList, six.string_types):
+        decWidthList = map(lambda x: float(x.strip()), decWidthList.split(','))
+    if isinstance(startTimeList, six.string_types):
+        startTimeList = map(lambda x: x.strip(), startTimeList.split(','))
+    if isinstance(durationList, six.string_types):
+        durationList = map(lambda x: int(x.strip()), durationList.split(','))
 
     all_lists = (raList, raWidthList, decList, decWidthList, startTimeList,
         durationList)
diff --git a/gracedb/templates/gracedb/emo_form_frag.html b/gracedb/templates/gracedb/emo_form_frag.html
index d24281301e85bed94d75457512cdcec3f159b783..f832de1edbec220b9b8de3d73859888e5c78d986 100644
--- a/gracedb/templates/gracedb/emo_form_frag.html
+++ b/gracedb/templates/gracedb/emo_form_frag.html
@@ -30,24 +30,24 @@ Which MOU Group provides this report?</a></td>       <td><select name="group">
 {% endfor %} </select> </td> </tr>
 
 <tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('RA and Dec specify a center point of a rectangle that is aligned equatorially. Or list of centers. They must be in decimal degrees 0<=RA<=360 -90<=Dec<=90, in the J2000 frame.');return false;">
-RA (decimal degrees)</a></td>             <td><input type="text" name="raList" value="" size=80/></td></tr>
+RA (decimal degrees)</a></td>             <td><input type="text" name="ra_list" value="" size=80/></td></tr>
 
 <tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('RA and Dec specify a center point of a rectangle that is aligned equatorially. Or list of centers. They must be in decimal degrees 0<=RA<=360 -90<=Dec<=90, in the J2000 frame.');return false;">
-Dec (decimal degrees)</a></td>            <td><input type="text" name="decList" value="" size=80/></td></tr>
+Dec (decimal degrees)</a></td>            <td><input type="text" name="dec_list" value="" size=80/></td></tr>
 
 <tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('RAWidth and DecWidth specify the size of a a rectangle that is aligned equatorially. Thus the edge of the box is distant from the center by half of the width.');return false;">
-RAwidth (decimal degrees)</a></td>        <td><input type="text" name="raWidthList" value=""/></td></tr>
+RAwidth (decimal degrees)</a></td>        <td><input type="text" name="ra_width_list" value=""/></td></tr>
 
 <tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('RAWidth and DecWidth specify the size of a a rectangle that is aligned equatorially. Thus the edge of the box is distant from the center by half of the width.');return false;">
-Decwidth (decimal degrees)</a></td>       <td><input type="text" name="decWidthList" value=""/></td></tr>
+Decwidth (decimal degrees)</a></td>       <td><input type="text" name="dec_width_list" value=""/></td></tr>
 
 <tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('The time at the beginning of a time interval during which the observation was taken. Or list of times. UTC in ISO 8601 format.');return false;">
 StartTime</a></td>
-<td><input type="text" name="startTimeList" value="" size=80/></td>
+<td><input type="text" name="start_time_list" value="" size=80/></td>
 </tr>
 
 <tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('This is the on-source exposure time in seconds (or the duration of the observation).');return false;">
-On source exposure (seconds)</a></td>       <td><input type="text" name="durationList" value=""/></td></tr>
+On source exposure (seconds)</a></td>       <td><input type="text" name="duration_list" value=""/></td></tr>
 
 <tr><td><a href=# onclick="alert('A natural language report.');return false;">
 Report as text</a></td>         <td colspan=2><textarea name="comment" rows="8" cols="50"></textarea></td></tr>