Typographical error on ballots: "Barack OSama"

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/10/08 at 9:47pm

Somehow this rings of dirty play

TROY, N.Y. (Oct. 10) - Who is running for president? In an upstate New York county, hundreds of voters have been sent absentee ballots in which they could vote for "Barack Osama."
The absentee ballots sent to voters in Rensselaer County identified the two presidential candidates as "Barack Osama" and "John McCain." In the United States, the best-known individual named Osama is Osama bin Laden, leader of the al Qaida terrorist group behind the 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City.

The typographical terror error was first reported by the Times Union of Albany.
The elections office faxed a statement in which the two commissioners, Democrat Edward McDonough and Republican Larry Bugbee, said they regret the error but never acknowledge what the error was.
"It's human error, it's very unfortunate, it's an embarrassment to our office, obviously," McDonough said in a later phone interview. "We wish we could turn back the clock, but we can't."
When they discovered the mistake, officials shredded the remaining "Osama" ballots and mailed correct versions to the roughly 300 people who had already received them. McDonough said the "Osama" mistake was made in only one of the 13 ballot versions mailed throughout the county, located east of the state capital of Albany.
Voters who received both versions will be allowed to send in either one and have it counted, McDonough said.
Obama spokesman Blake Zeff said the campaign is "glad officials are working to correct this error and we assume it won't happen again."

http://news.aol.com/elections/article/oops-barack-osama-on-absentee-ballot/207664

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 10/10/08 at 10:19pm

But the real question: Will the voters choose Barack Osama or John Hussein?

[Weez]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:45pm

I wonder... it could ring as dirty play, but to me, it rings as trying too hard and failing dismally. Allow me to explain.

There are two actors, Martin Sheen, and Michael Sheen. I know that there are two actors. I know who they are. I know various roles they've played. If I saw them walking down the street, I'd recognise them. And I know which one is Martin and I know which one is Michael. But I'm so worried that I'll have a dizzy moment and start using the wrong name that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and I start banging on about how great Martin Sheen was in 'Frost/Nixon' or something embarrassing like that.

The human brain doesn't like the word "don't"; if the person typing up the ballots was mentally chanting "don't type Osama, don't type Osama, don't type Osama", then it's a VERY easy mistake to make. Lord knows I might have slipped out an Osama or two myself in discussion of ol' Barack.

Although it saddens me that I can very easily see this typographical error actually affecting voters. Oh dear.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 12:54pm

Oh come on. It'b osvioubly jubt a typo. The s and the b are bo clobe to each other on a keysoard.

Updated On: 10/11/08 at 12:54 PM

[DBillyP]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 2:08pm

Clever way, Namo, to say what I said this morning after reading the article in the paper!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 7:57pm

Not cool. Seems like it was done on purpose.

[Urban]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 8:06pm

Since it is NY, the typo should made him Irish - Barack O'Bama.

[bwayfan9]

Posted: 10/11/08 at 10:03pm

thats BS (In case you didn't notice, it is a joke because they mixed up b and s. so I said BS). If anyone believes that that was an accident you are an idiot, this was totally done on purpouse. B and S aren't even close you each other. F*CKing Pisses me off

[2day4u9704301]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 6:34pm

So proud of my hometown!

[Weez]

Posted: 10/12/08 at 7:05pm

Oh please, you've never spazzed out and typed completely the wrong thing? You've never had a brain fart and said the opposite of what you meant to say? I once tried to type the word "orange" and came out with "praghen". My surname is a boy's name with an S on the end, so I can NEVER type that boy's name without inadvertantly pluralising it. I use certain words so much (like, say, "theatre") that my fingers will have it typed before my brain has even said to my fingers "okay, the next word you need to be typing is 'there'". The S and the B are less than two inches away from each other, and the human brain has a limitless capacity for stupid. Stop being such cynical brutes; I can feel my heart turning to stone just by being on the same boards as you. :P

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/13/08 at 11:18am

It could just as easily be a typo as it could be the work of a disgruntled Republican. We'll never know. It will be interesting to see if this incident pops up anywhere else.

[zepka102]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 5:09pm

I work about 10 min from Troy. We were talking about this at work. One of my coworkers has a relation to one of the people who was involved with it and she said that it really was an honest error. There was nothing fishy about it... a simple error overlooked.... as crazy as it may sound to us.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 10/17/08 at 6:03pm

I heard about this last week. I can't imagine that A. This is legal, and B. There was no vetting process. Someone is to blame and he/she should be fired.