Think Progress

‘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.



45 Responses to “‘Barack Osama’ appears on hundreds of absentee ballots in New York.”

  1. RUCerious says:

    Got racist terrism?


  2. upside99 says:

    HERE WE GO!!!!!

    I was wondering when these ‘little oh-oh’s’ were going to start.

    Pathetic, but not surprising.


  3. raynman says:

    I wonder if we can accidentally ‘misspell’ McCain as ‘erratic loose cannon’??


  4. liberalinaredstate says:

    This election just gets more rediculous……violent, mean,


  5. Zimzone says:

    Who’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…


  6. Uncle Ho says:

    Wanna bet that come election day the ballots in many states will read Hussein Osama?

    any takers?


  7. ralph the wonder llama says:

    As raynman suggests, I wonder how often John McCain’s name is misspelled?

    “John McSain” perhaps?


  8. JayS says:

    If 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?


  9. RUCerious says:

    John McChaos, or better, John Sidney McChaps?


  10. misshusseinmolly says:

    This 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.


  11. Zimzone says:

    McZombie & the Scarahorrists.

    Was that a band from the ’60’s or a bad whorer movie?


  12. Buckie Boy says:

    This was obviously not a mistake….more Voter fraud by the Racist Repukes.


  13. paleolib says:

    Either 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.


  14. Leftside Annie says:

    Jesus 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.


  15. BuckarooBanzai says:

    Love 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.


  16. tigger says:

    Someone needs to be fired.

    TODAY.

    Simply inexcusable.


  17. McWars says:

    I really hope this election doesn’t end up being one big joke.

    There are times when I feel sorry for this country.


  18. dono says:

    That will confuse the mouth-breathers…


  19. SystemError says:

    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.


  20. Marie says:

    I 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.


  21. katy says:

    the voter suppression is becoming viral… malignant?


  22. Marie says:

    Can we expect to hear of a county where the absentee ballots were imprinted with John McSame? John McPain?
    Sure — any day now.


  23. katy says:

    i’d like to see a level headed story on this ACORN “problem”…


  24. RUCerious says:

    My new prediction.

    Members of McIIIrd’s campaign bail out, blaming ‘Palin and the poisonous environment she brought’…


  25. IgnoranceIsNotBliss says:

    Yeah, 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.


  26. RUCerious says:

    SystemError! How’s your cousin SysRq?



  27. impeachcheneythenbush says:

    I 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.


  28. tokin librul says:

    Who 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?).


  29. stateofthedivision says:

    Letters around “B” on a computer keyboard are:

    F,G,H,V,N

    “S” is nowhere near “B”. Typo? Not a chance…


  30. Uncle Ho says:

    clusterphuckTim: FLAGGED FOR SPAMMING!


  31. AntiPatriot says:

    “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.


  32. joemono says:

    “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.


  33. DaTruth says:

    This 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!


  34. bob hussein lablah says:

    “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.


  35. deebaser says:

    Intentional 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.


  36. misshusseinmolly says:

    had 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…


  37. Doc Rock says:

    Those responsible should have to pay for printing and mailing new ballots immediately out of their severance pay.


  38. gummitch says:

    misshusseinmolly 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.


  39. slappy magoo says:

    I’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.


  40. Bob says:

    Here’s to the vote being so overwhelming that the sum of all these little glitches won’t matter anyway.


  41. wiley says:

    The 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.


  42. MapleStreet says:

    I 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.


  43. EugeneDebs says:

    LushInterior 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


  44. Since2oo6 says:


Jump to Top

About Think Progress | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy (off-site) | RSS | Donate
© 2005-2009 Center for American Progress Action Fund
View Most Popular

Advertisement

What We're About

Featured

image
Subscribe to the Progress Report



imageTopic Cloud


Visit Our Affiliated Sites

image image
Reports


Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.

Name:
Email:
Tip:
(required)


imageArchives


imageBlog Roll