‘Barack Osama’ appears on hundreds of absentee ballots in New York.
By on Oct 10th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
‘Barack Osama’ appears on hundreds of absentee ballots in New York.
The Albany Times Union reports today that Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) “last name is spelled ‘Osama’ on hundreds of absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County,” New York. Both Democratic and Republican county election officials insist the error was a “honest mistake” and a “typo,” but the paper notes that “the letters ’s’ and ‘b’ are not exactly keyboard neighbors.” During the Democratic primary, Obama’s first name was misspelled on approximately 2000 absentee ballots in Florida.
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October 10th, 2008 at 3:24 pmHERE WE GO!!!!!
I was wondering when these ‘little oh-oh’s’ were going to start.
Pathetic, but not surprising.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:24 pmI wonder if we can accidentally ‘misspell’ McCain as ‘erratic loose cannon’??
October 10th, 2008 at 3:28 pmThis election just gets more rediculous……violent, mean,
October 10th, 2008 at 3:29 pmWho’s the REAL domestic terrorists here, anyway?
You mean no one proof read the copy?
Even County employees should know how to read.
Let me guess…it’s ‘too late now’ to redo the ballots…
October 10th, 2008 at 3:29 pmWanna bet that come election day the ballots in many states will read Hussein Osama?
any takers?
October 10th, 2008 at 3:30 pmAs raynman suggests, I wonder how often John McCain’s name is misspelled?
“John McSain” perhaps?
October 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pmIf those ballots are returned as votes for Barack, will they be counted? Will they count for Mr. Obama? Or will someone (can you say Republican?) claim that the voter’s intent can not be clearly ascertained?
October 10th, 2008 at 3:33 pmJohn McChaos, or better, John Sidney McChaps?
October 10th, 2008 at 3:34 pmThis isn’t terribly surprising, and I wonder how many other “oopsie”s there will be between now and November 4.
Fortunately, New York should go blue despite idiocy like this. But the Obama team would do well to lawyer up for expected shenanigans like this in battleground states.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:36 pmMcZombie & the Scarahorrists.
Was that a band from the ’60’s or a bad whorer movie?
October 10th, 2008 at 3:37 pmThis was obviously not a mistake….more Voter fraud by the Racist Repukes.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:37 pmEither a lot of archaic attitudes are going to be gradually readjusted over the next four and hopefully eight years or a lot of cyanide-laced Kool-Aid is going to be consumed by a lot of wingnuts shortly after the election.
At this point I am cool with either of those outcomes. Personal choice and all.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:44 pmJesus H. Christ. I keep thinking that there is a bottom to the slimepit of Republican politics.
I keep finding out that I’m wrong. There is no bottom.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:46 pmLove the fact that the BOE head says that the 3 proofreaders just missed it and it was an honest mistake. The b and s are far apart on the keyboard, but the bs of this excuse doesn’t wash.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:48 pmSomeone needs to be fired.
TODAY.
Simply inexcusable.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pmI really hope this election doesn’t end up being one big joke.
There are times when I feel sorry for this country.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pmThat will confuse the mouth-breathers…
October 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pmI’m going offer a less nefarious explanation. In Microsoft Word, whenever I type “Obama” it thinks it’s a misspelled Word and as a suggestion offers “Osama.” Someone is just really lazy with the spellcheck.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:03 pmI do not for one minute believe that this was an honest error. In another time, I might have given the benefit of the doubt, but not today.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:07 pmthe voter suppression is becoming viral… malignant?
October 10th, 2008 at 4:08 pmCan we expect to hear of a county where the absentee ballots were imprinted with John McSame? John McPain?
October 10th, 2008 at 4:09 pmSure — any day now.
i’d like to see a level headed story on this ACORN “problem”…
October 10th, 2008 at 4:09 pmMy new prediction.
Members of McIIIrd’s campaign bail out, blaming ‘Palin and the poisonous environment she brought’…
October 10th, 2008 at 4:13 pmYeah, okay sure, uh hunh it was a mistake. The question is if the voter colors in the circle for “Barack Osama” is it going to count as a vote for “Barack Obama”? That’s the question.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:14 pmSystemError! How’s your cousin SysRq?
October 10th, 2008 at 4:15 pmbradblog has a pic of this ballot
October 10th, 2008 at 4:16 pmI honestly don’t think we’ll know the truth about what happened here unless we have some information about HOW the absentee ballots are produced. A single copy sent to a xerox center? A mock-up that goes to a typesetter? (Do they still do that?) A copy sent via email to whoever mass-produced it? In what format? If it wasn’t sent as a PDF file, it could have been altered at the production facility. In fact, it may have gone to a direct-mail facility that did both the copying and then the mailing, which means the election officials (both Democrats and Republicans) wouldn’t have seen it before it went out.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:17 pmWho do you think will be put off by Palin’s paleo-con connexions? Who do you think NOW won’t vote McPalin who would have before?
In GOPuke-land, none of this is glitch, it’s all feature in that country, out there.
And it’s true. They aren’t like us. I doubt we could breed with them (who’d want to, i know; except there are some fairly comely heifers in the herd; it’s in the bloodlines, ya know?).
October 10th, 2008 at 4:17 pmLetters around “B” on a computer keyboard are:
F,G,H,V,N
“S” is nowhere near “B”. Typo? Not a chance…
October 10th, 2008 at 4:18 pmclusterphuckTim: FLAGGED FOR SPAMMING!
October 10th, 2008 at 4:18 pm“Shame on NY! We once thought New Yorkers were intelligent and sophisticated - no more.”
Let’s be clear: Rensselaer County is way up north near Albany, nowhere near New York City. When you think of intelligent and sophisticated, believe me when I say that you’re really only thinking of New York City for the most part. Of course, there are other pockets of liberalism and saneness in the state, but let’s remember: George Pataki was voted in as governor and Rick Lazio as a representative from Long Island. So clearly, there are some real unsophisticated, backwaters-types up here too.
Sorry, I just had to stand up for my hometown.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:20 pm“I’m going offer a less nefarious explanation. In Microsoft Word, whenever I type “Obama” it thinks it’s a misspelled Word and as a suggestion offers “Osama.” Someone is just really lazy with the spellcheck.”
Mine offers: Bema, Bam, Boatman, Abeam, and Ocala.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:22 pmThis is one of those October Tricks from the neocons. Guess what zionist pigs, we the people have survived 8yrs of straight downright failure. We are contenders and we are tougher! And we’re out there to phuck you up! Here we come!
October 10th, 2008 at 4:24 pm“Honest mistake.” Actually, I see only two possible explanations (correct me if I’m wrong): you’re either really careless and didn’t CHECK the ballots before they went out, or you have no conscience when it comes to honest elections. Either way you’re showing incompetence as election officials.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:32 pmIntentional or accidental doesn’t really matter. Two points though:
1. No big deal. NY is going for Obama no matter if all the ballots read ‘Hussein Obama will eat your children’. NYers are smarter than that.
2. someone should be fired TODAY.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:42 pmGet a rope.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:51 pmhad enough Says
October 10th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
bradblog has a pic of this ballot
_________________________________________________________
OK, after looking at the ballot, I don’t think Obama’s misspelled name is the most confusing thing on it. McCain and Palin are listed three times — for Republican, Independence, and Conservative. Obama and Biden are listed twice — for Democratic and Working Families (once he’s spelled wrong, the other time he’s spelled right).
I don’t get it — how many party tickets are these guys running on? Maybe they just do things differently in New York?
Sheesh — and I thought butterfly ballots were weird…
October 10th, 2008 at 4:51 pmThose responsible should have to pay for printing and mailing new ballots immediately out of their severance pay.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:52 pmSo they got the “bs” mixed up…….thats the least of my worries.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:12 pmmisshusseinmolly Says:
OK, after looking at the ballot, I don’t think Obama’s misspelled name is the most confusing thing on it. McCain and Palin are listed three times — for Republican, Independence, and Conservative. Obama and Biden are listed twice — for Democratic and Working Families (once he’s spelled wrong, the other time he’s spelled right).
I don’t get it — how many party tickets are these guys running on? Maybe they just do things differently in New York?
Yeah, they do. Someone who still lives there will probably weigh in with a real explanation, but NY has long had people running on multiple party tickets, like Democrat and Liberal.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:20 pmI’m not the first to wonder this, but comsidering no one named Barack Osama is running for national office, will those votes be cosidered invalid?
There needs to be punishment meted out for this less-than-honest mistake, but more importantly, absentee voters who intend to vote for Obama need to know their votes won’t be invalidated because of this jackassery.
October 10th, 2008 at 6:54 pmHere’s to the vote being so overwhelming that the sum of all these little glitches won’t matter anyway.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:40 pmThe GOP is like a mind-bending substance. Hope they peak soon, and the effects wear off after a long dirt-nap(figuratively speaking) for the GOP.
I just have to keep telling myself that THEY are trippin’. And the mainstream media is tripping with them because they have better chow and more shocking headlines.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:45 pmI used to work for the government. Nothing goes out without being read by several folks.
If this was an “oopsie” then the people who put it out need to be severely dealt with.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:26 pmLushInterior Says:
So they got the “bs” mixed up…….thats the least of my worries.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes you do. For instance your monumental ignorance and your subhuman IQ
October 11th, 2008 at 3:32 am