10/13/2008
New York Absentee Ballots Sent Out with Obama Misspelling
And that typo just happened to result in the name "Osama".
"Elections officials on both sides of the aisle insist a simple typographical error caused the national embarrassment. 'It was a mistake innocently done,' McDonough said. 'We catch almost everything.' Republican officials were apologetic. 'We have three different staff members who proof these things and somehow the typo got by us,' said Republican Commissioner Larry Bugbee. 'We really apologize.'...The Obama camp took the controversy in stride. 'We're glad officials are working to correct this error and we assume it won't happen again,' Obama spokesman Blake Zeff said. McDonough said the absentee ballots with the error went out to voters in Brunswick, Nassau, Sand Lake, Schaghticoke and Schodack. Three voters called to report the error. By day's end, officials decided to issue new ballots to all 300 voters. They realized some people might cross out the misspelling and write in the correct spelling."
Posted 1:11 PM EST by Andy Towle in Barack Obama, Election 2008, New York, News | Permalink
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Un-fucking-believable.
Posted by: David | Oct 13, 2008 1:24:13 PM
This totally made my day. The only thing better would be if someone connected this to a bunch of New York State Public School graduates.
BY the way...all you haters might want to notice that BOTH parties officials missed it.. HA Ha Ha Ha Ha
Posted by: Las Vegas | Oct 13, 2008 1:25:18 PM
Smells fishy to me.
Posted by: JHT | Oct 13, 2008 1:29:22 PM
Just out of curiosity, why is John McCain listed under the "Independence Party" as well?
Posted by: DLRnATL | Oct 13, 2008 1:35:40 PM
I don't know how New York elections work, but why is McCain on the ballot twice as a Republican and the Independence party.
Posted by: Matt | Oct 13, 2008 1:36:54 PM
Please, B and S are no where near each other on the key board. There are tons of other ways Obama could be misspelled and no one noticed Osama? This country is really being run by a bunch of 5th graders. Very sad...
Posted by: Mr. E | Oct 13, 2008 1:41:29 PM
i bet this was intentional. i mean the letter "b" is not even close to the letter "s" on a keyboard! i could see if someone typing this could have pressed the letter "v" or "c" by accident since they're close to the letter "b", but not "s"!
Posted by: shoepins | Oct 13, 2008 1:41:34 PM
...and here we go
Posted by: Las Vegas | Oct 13, 2008 1:45:47 PM
New York has a weird party system, where multiple parties can endorse the same candidate. It happens a lot in NYC mayoral and gubernatorial races, so it's no surprise that it would also happen with the presidential ballot as well.
Las Vegas, you can laugh all you want, we all know you're crying like a baby on the inside.
Posted by: Sami | Oct 13, 2008 2:14:22 PM
I just got off the phone with Bob Gardinier who wrote the referenced article and he said that the Republicans have shanghaied the Independence Party ballot in New York State, through meetings and such (that part was little foggy to me). Thus McCain's name appears under the Independence Party. He said that McCain's name also appears under the Conservative Party. So his name appears a total of THREE times on the ballot.
He also said that Obama's name appears twice, including the Working Family Party. He said that the WFP is the only TRUE independent party at this point. I assume he meant in New York State, not in general.
If you have any further questions, you can call him directly at 518-454-5696
Posted by: soulbrotha | Oct 13, 2008 2:17:43 PM
I am sure there's still a good chance that the election officials made a Fox-like "mistake", but I will tell everyone that spell checks in many programs will auto-correct, or at least recommend change of "Obama" to "Osama". Try it.
But the fact that such a critical spelling would be overlooked is ridiculous and sad.
Posted by: LD | Oct 13, 2008 2:20:23 PM
The same thing is happening in Florida. I'm sure it's a "mistake."
Posted by: Dale | Oct 13, 2008 2:35:11 PM
I deal with typos all day in my line of work. I know when a typo is accidental, because usually it is a slip of the finger on a keyboard.
The "S" is nowhere near the "B", it's not even the same finger on the keyboard position.
This is basic Tampering With Election 101.
Posted by: johnny | Oct 13, 2008 3:10:59 PM
We have seen enough of the Republican tactics to be pretty sure it was not a mistake.
McChiavelli and his people at it again!
Posted by: CK | Oct 13, 2008 3:51:18 PM
I agree with everyone else here that the likelyhood that this is a typo is very low - not the same fingers used, keys nowhere near each other, and THREE different sets of eyes just happened to "skim" over a presidential ballot and miss it? Riiiiiiiight.
I did want to respond to "Dale" though - I live in Pinellas County in Florida and used an absentee ballot. There was absolutely no misspelling of Obama on it. Not sure where you're coming up with that.
Posted by: Mackenzie | Oct 13, 2008 4:14:34 PM
I'm a stupid tool who loves to be contrary. Don't listen to me. I'm an idiot.
Posted by: Las Vegas | Oct 13, 2008 6:43:56 PM
Both parties missed it. I bet someone used a program with Spellcheck Auto correct that had "Osama" in the database but not "Obama."
Posted by: Amy | Oct 13, 2008 8:01:36 PM
The local clerk of elections has to draw up normal ballots and they are approved by all the parties (at least as far as spelling and wording where it conforms to regulations and the law--not layout). However, absentee ballots can be generated by just about anyone as long as they conform to state and federal law. We would need to know the context of the ballots in question.
Posted by: anon | Oct 13, 2008 8:22:39 PM
Why are you all assuming whatever idiot made this mistake types with more than two fingers?
Posted by: Kevinvt | Oct 13, 2008 8:25:08 PM
What's easier to believe? Are those responsible are as smart as Dan Quayle, or are they just as corrupt as the guys in D.C.?
Posted by: RoninBernie | Oct 13, 2008 10:35:50 PM
THAT IS BARACK'S NAME. BARACK OBAMA OSAMA!!! THERE IS NOTHING MISSPELLED. BARAC'S TRUE LAST NAME IS OSAMA, AS HIS DAD IS A MUSLIM AND THE MUSLIM RELIGION IS CARRIED BY THE FATHER'S SIDE.
Posted by: AG | Oct 14, 2008 2:10:44 AM
I have a New York absentee ballot, and his name is spelled right on it. And McCain's name is actually listed 3 times, under republican, conservative, and independent. Obama's is listed twice, under democrat and "Working Families."
Oh, and go fuck yourself good and hard, AG. Nobody wants to hear your ignorant crap.
Posted by: Nate | Oct 14, 2008 2:18:03 PM
Just what we need, more B.S. controversy in the election.
Posted by: Jack M | Oct 14, 2008 4:34:47 PM
Yea right 3 people didn't notice it. How many "didn't" notice it at the company that printed it too? In florida where i live. Alot of voters just happen to get notices that they registered too late to vote in nov. when in fact they did not. Luckly the Florida Democratic Party got notified and raised hell. They got the list of those notified and said they will call each one to make sure it will be corrected. Plus WILL SOMEONE AT TOWERLOAD CARE TO COMMENT ON WHY THERE IS AN ADD ON PAGE 4 FOR DIANETICS.ORG !!!!
Posted by: randy | Oct 14, 2008 5:44:05 PM
Materials printed en masse like this are proofread at many stages of the process. There are press checks, proofing of mock-ups, etc. For this mistake to occur and actually get mailed out to voters demonstrates an intentional accident. I blame this on the Democrats, who should have been more involved in the process and as usual, are too trusting of the other side. Some GOP operatives occupy an extreme wing of dirty politics unique to Republicans. Every Dem should know this by now.
Posted by: Joe H | Oct 18, 2008 11:18:50 PM