Slog - Comments on Excuse Me? http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1 From the A.P.: The absentee ballots sent to voters in Rensselaer County identified the two presidential candidates as "Barack Osama" and "John McCain." The article goes on to helpfully point out: In the United States, the best-known individual named Osama is Osama bin Laden, leader of the al Qaida terrorist group behind the 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City. Wow. Is this on purpose or not? (Thanks to various Slog Tippers including Tracy and Jeremy.)... Copyright 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:40:06 -0800 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:07:40 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by leek Ha. If this was on purpose, New York state would be the MOST idiotic place to try it. Go for somewhere where it could actually change the outcome next time!

]]> leek http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170375 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170375 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:42:49 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Zero percent chance that's an innocent mistake, and it should take about an hour tops to find the fucker who did it. He should be fired and prosecuted under Federal statutes for fucking with an election.

Fortunately, NY is not in doubt.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170377 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170377 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:43:32 -0800 Comment by JJ @2

Amen.

]]> JJ http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170380 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170380 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:45:08 -0800 Comment by spencer Yeah, the 's' and the 'b' keys are not exactly close on a keyboard. I'd say that was intentional. And I bet there's going to be more of that.

]]> spencer http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170384 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170384 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:46:21 -0800 Comment by Dougsf I blame John McVeigh... I mean McCain. Shit, I'm always doing that.

]]> Dougsf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170385 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170385 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:46:49 -0800 Comment by Billy Nilly They also said in the article that this made it through ... THREE ... rounds of proofreaders. That's the most head-slapping part of the whole shebang.

]]> Billy Nilly http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170388 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170388 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:49:07 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo I predict new levels of desperation in this year's round of election fraud. Fnarf's right, the chances of this being an innocent mistake are nil.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170389 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170389 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:50:31 -0800 Comment by PC mebbe innocent mebbe not

this county is across the hudson river from Albany and is part of the Albany Schenectady Troy area, probably a more D area. it's more educated, higher income than the average rural NY areas.

the bd of elections has two commissioners one D one R and the staff is equally divided.

many folks including pro Obama pols and news folks have made the same mistake.....

]]> PC http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170400 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170400 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:03:19 -0800 Comment by elenchos Why would you risk your job just so Obama can win all of NY's electoral votes by a slightly smaller majority?

]]> elenchos http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170402 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170402 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:05:33 -0800 Comment by Greg Protest vote indeed. Well played, soon-to-be-fired-and-prosecuted county elections official!

]]> Greg http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170409 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170409 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:12:45 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi Has anyone seen any kind of typo or misspelling on a ballot? I don't think I ever have, which is kind of astounding in itself, but definitely speaks against this being a mistake.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170413 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170413 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:13:54 -0800 Comment by Seajay I agree with most of the other commenters. If this had happened in a swing state, it might be evidence of "The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy." As it is, any idiots who vote according to that aren't going to change anything.

]]> Seajay http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170416 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170416 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:15:01 -0800 Comment by Sean Typo. I know I've been guilty of some bizarre ones in the past. But there's not excuse for making any document to do with this election without first doing a find and replace of Osama-->Obama.

]]> Sean http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170440 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170440 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:39:00 -0800 Comment by bob Does that ballot also list John McCain twice?!?! "Independence electors for John McCain" http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/10/new-york-countys-ballots-print-%E2%80%98barack-osama%E2%80%99/

]]> bob http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170464 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170464 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:01:11 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi @14,

That's normal in New York state. Candidates can be listed under any number of different parties. In 2000, Hillary was listed under the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party. Only one vote per candidate is counted, no matter how many times they appear on the ballot.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170485 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170485 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:23:05 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle Totally intentional.

But they'll pretend it was a mistake.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170506 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170506 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:34:38 -0800 Comment by Jake Mixup? B.S.

]]> Jake http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170524 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170524 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:49:03 -0800 Comment by Sven I'm going to go with purposeful -- but not an attempt to sway anyone.

This has the hallmarks of an internal joke that's correction was overlooked before deadline.

]]> Sven http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170810 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/10/excuse_me_1#c1170810 2008 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:07:40 -0800