Obama Listed As "Barack Osama" On Some New York Ballots

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's last name is spelled "Osama" on hundreds of absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County.

The misspelling, which elections officials on both sides of the aisle insist was simply a typo, is causing embarrassment for the county.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[patnb]

Obviously this is not a mistake. The printer set the ballot up- either the proofreaders did not do their job, or the change was made at the printers after the proofreaders signed off on it. It's possible that someone working at the print shop made the change, or the culprit is in the elections office. They should accept ballots with or without spelling corrections. By the way, this NY community is very conservative. This is the town that, not long after 9/11, had a man forcibly removed from a shopping mall at Christmas time because he was wearing a T-shirt that said "Peace on Earth" and it was considered "anti-American".

[trrenaud]

I believe this was a mistake -- call it a "typo," if you like, but my guess is that it was either an automatic "fix" by word processing software or a subconscious mistake by a human. After all, the McCain camp has done a great job of indirectly encouraging Obama's equation with the terrorist of a similar name. Even if one happens to disagree with the equation, it is still ingrained in the popular psyche.

On the surface, however, of course it looks rigged. But I happen to have grown up in Rensselaer County and I assure you all that there is no GOP conspiracy at work there. My parents actually received two of the 300 faulty absentee ballots -- they plan to keep them as souvenirs. County officials are sending out new ballots to everyone (not just by request, as someone on this board claims). Obama's name was spelled correctly when it appeared again on the Working Families line of the ballot. This incident simply amounts to negligence and incompetence in the county elections office. Unlike most NY counties, Rensselaer had chosen to print the ballots in-house rather than by an external vendor -- this probably contributed to the error, and I doubt that the practice will continue.

[CJDavidson]

On the gripping hand: His name is really Baraka Hussein Oba Ma.

[nellie]

Nice way to disenfranchise absentee voters. Barack's name isn't even on the ballot. So now, those who can't get to the polls don't get to vote.

These people are just unbelievable. They are un-American. They don't care what the American people want. They don't care about policy. I don't know what was on the minds of the people who came up with this particular crime. The "typo" excuse should not be accepted. And someone needs to be prosecuted.

[KNadine]

Typo - I think not. Listen, I'm an old school typist. I can only type w/ my hands on the proper home keys and we were taught on the manual typewriters (yes I said manual). This is what a typo would look like for Obama --Ogama, Ovama, Ofama. This campaign year will go down in history as some of the silliest sh*t I've ever seen.

[iPolitics]

The 's' isn't close to the 'b'

"my friends"

[USMC1]

Although McCain is actually full of both letters.

[CJDavidson]

Sarcasm? Could have been McCair? Heh. ;)

[grumpygranny66]

I find it hard to believe this was a typo. Late last night I read this article on CNN.co, by political producer Ed Hornick, he wrote the that the ballot was was proof read for errors three times. If that
was true "why wasn't the error caught"? Hornick also, wrote that a corrected ballot would be mailed on request. That meant if someone does not request a corrected ballot they are out of luck.
The reason I did not comment on this article, it was not on HuffPo.

Now, today it appears on HuffPo, and the story is some what different than CNN.com. Per Larry Bugbee (R) Commissioner, "this is a typo we have three (3) staff members who proof read these things and somehow the typo got by. Something smells, those three employees should be fired.
Apparently they cannot perform their duties. Looking on the ballot it is not difficult to see the error. I can understand it slipping by one person but, not three. It was deliberately done IMO

I could understand a typo if it was any of the keys on the left of the keyboard but, the B was to the right.
This was done on purpose, and the proof readers should be questioned and if guilty be FIRED.

[darthdarcy]

I'm here in Ulster County NY and that my friends is no typo...!

[BluePride]

repubs have filled state & fed offices w/ cronies and neoCONS for years... many, many lil decisions are affected such as this on a daily basis. It'll change Nov 5.

Everybody RUN...

HomeComing Queen Palin's got a GUN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59mOukUZNUo

We DON'T Need Another HERO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKVBq4VbC6w

[grumpygranny66]

Thanks for the Tina Turner Video BluePride; Especially love the part where McCain was dancing with the bottle of Bud. Beer. The Video is a MUST WATCH. LOL. Whoever made it sure put a lot of time in it,

[my401k]

WOW, if I believe this was a mistake, I will also believe that pigs will grow wings and fly. Weren't election officials supposed to be neutral?

[Doomestic]

The odds for this to happen by mistake are astronomical.

[wdw101]

but funny

[restoreamerica]

Not Really,

If you are using Microsoft Word, this can happen very easily. I use Word 2003.

If you type in Obama, the spell checker will mark the word and suggest Osama. If you have spell check on automatic...guess what happens??!!

I do not think this is a conspiracy since Osama was well known in 2003 and Obama did not appear on the national stage until late 2004.

Proof readers obviously have glazed eyes, after hours on the job.

It would not surprise me if this shows up in some voting booths!

If you use word, try it. Don't take my word for it.

This is also true in Microsoft Outlook.

[nellie]

Proofreading.

There's no way this was an accident.

[timezone]

What a well-calculated "mistake" that was.

[ChangeSupporter]

These ballots were supposedly proofed THREE times before they were sent out and not one of the incompetents caught that? That was no typo, it was intentional. The idea was for the voters to correct the spelling on the ballot (which would have effectively thrown out the vote, as a voter cannot make corrections on a ballot.)

With the agony of defeat imminent for the Republicans, they are trying everything in the book to thwart Obama from reaching the White House. Not going to happen....Obama is White House bound.

[LarBear]

Hmmmm.... An easy mistake to make when one lQQks at the Keyboard...

top row and second from right is "O" ...

bottom row "B" is near middle...

"S" is middle row second from left...

(Snicker) easy mistaking bottom row mid way for middle row left... (cough... choke....)

Why do I NOT believe this was an "accident".... Holy ooopsies.... The Computer made me do it... Did the person who made up the Ballot Form to be printed "accidentally" get a few days of pay docked????

[wdw101]

but very funny

[tbone99]

"It was a mistake innocently done,"
Republican officials were apologetic. "We have three different staff members who proof these things and somehow the typo got by us," We really apologize."

yet the Repugs go on and on about Obama's pronunciation of the word Pakistan?!

These people should be sacked ASAP or we are going to see this little typo occur all over the nation with a little "whoops" afterwards..
S is not even near the B on the keyboard.