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

Albany Times-Union:

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: Albany Times-Union

Comments

[bill76]

This was just a typo, my a**. Of all of the letters on the ballot that could have been incorrect, it just happened to be the b in Obama, oh and coincidenally they turned that letter into an s (out of 25 other letters it could have been), oh and there just happens to be a terrorist named Osama.

[RFBorjal]

Of course it was a typo, but a deliberate, intentional one. Please, I'm not that stupid to believe the yarn that it was an honest mistake. Nowhere is s near b on the keyboard. It was an idea that somebody thought up and implemented to render the ballots invalid.

[HoldenLitgo]

Out of 26 letters, the S was conveniently mistaken for the B. Verrrrry interrrrrresting. But not very likely.

[Kay72403]

A simple typo? YEAH, RIGHT.

[imsosure]

Proof positive that ignorance has no boundaries.

[LemonMeringue]

Where is the FBI? Election tampering is a crime.

[wendynyc]

This was done on purpose - there are a number of students at Rennesslaer -

I just wrote a protest email to them and the Governor's office - you can too:

http://www.rensco.com/boe_contact.asp

Gov Patterson's Office:

http://161.11.121.121/govemail

[boogygran]

Thanks, message sent.

Bad enough that some wingnut was able to get that past whoever was supposed to be proof reading, but for them to insult the public's intelligence by claiming it was probably just a typo makes them look like dodoheads.

[ccmd]

*looking down at keyboard*
*aSdfgh.... zxcvBnm.... * (effin idiots!!!)

[Pinkmarbles]

*looking down at keyboard*

*d u m b a s s*

[kellygrrrl]

so apparently they are now of the position that if they reprint the ballot to correct the "mistake" it will render their vote invalid.

[XME]

While it may have been a typo, it's either intentional or pure incompetence that didn't catch it before allowing it to be printed en masse and to be mailed out!

[LemonMeringue]

What are the chances, of all 26 letters, the "s" being nowhere near the "b" nor even typed with the same finger, that "Obama" became "Osama" because it was a typo?

[XME]

Slim to none...but I do try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt (innocent until proven guilty). There are a lot of incompetent folks in the world, so though unlikely, it is possible.

[westreal]

Oh my freaking god!

[Birdman]

Not to defend these people but I know MS Word will spell check and change Obama to Osama if you are not careful, so this is one possibility. Of course if you add Obama to your spelling list then that problem goes away.

[LemonMeringue]

Not without accepting the change, it won't!

People are trying too hard to defend the indefensible.

[Pinkmarbles]

Well what do you expect when the fool keeps a Muslim terrorist name!!!???

[duchessdorleans]

whoa. welcome to crazy world.

[Coinyer101]

sure! 3? proofreaders missed that? i do not believe that for one moment. the last proofreader was a repub who changed it,probably.

[SurrealPumpkin]

Not only are the "s" and "b" nowhere near each other, it was very obvious on the final printing. How on earth did THREE proof readers miss that?

also it isn't clear if everyone is getting a new ballot or only those who complain, or if votes on those ballots will be accepted.

[Pinkmarbles]

I think that all of the wrong ballots should be re-mailed and those people allowed to vote again.

[bygollymissmolly]

No kidding. The next thing they will do is disallow any ballot that is submitted by saying that there is no "Osama" running for President.

Republicans are sick down to their toes and completely soulless.