I Ain't Buying The Osama Ballot "Typo" !!! (Picture Of Ballot Here) (Now With Link, LOL)

[WillyT]

I work in government and have been around a few print shops in my day. And although mistakes can occur from time to time, it's fairly rare. Usually whoever sets up a job for mass printings and mailings has them proof read, and signed off on BEFORE you run off several hundred or million copies, because of the costs involved.

Now this may just be an isolated case in just one county, but they have to watch their costs too, and I'm suggesting that this went though several hands and sets of eyes before it was printed and mailed out.

I ain't buying the "innocent mistake" bullshit.

:mad:

Sorry... Here's The Link: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/10/new-york-countys-ballots-print-%E2%80%98barack-osama%E2%80%99/

:shrug:

[melody]

1. That was absolutely on purpose -- and probably by several people n/t

[PM7nj]

2. What? Is that real? What state?

[WillyT]

6. Here Ya Go...

Link: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/10/new-york-countys-ballots-print-%E2%80%98barack-osama%E2%80%99/

[NoSheep]

45. I feel the need to explode......

[mikelgb]

3. weirdest looking ballot ever

[Essene]

24. NY has many parties...

[WillyT]

47. Thank You Esther...

:shrug:

[hlthe2b]

4. What are they going to do about it?

This can't be a legal ballot.

[texastoast]

5. Where is that from? n/t

[progressoid]

32. Rensselaer County in New York state

[BlueIdaho]

7. Just how many chances do you get to vote for John McCain on this ballot?

Looks like at least two?

Oh yeah - Typo? my fucking lilly white ass!

[TheCoxwain]

15. yeah .. why is him name appearing twice?

[Raineyb]

34. NY has a fusion party system.

We've got a few parties and sometimes the parties will endorse a main party ticket so people will show up on more than one line.

I voted for Clinton in 2000 for Senate on the Working Families party. Obama will be appearing on the Working Families Party line as well as the Democratic line.

Regards

BTW, no way that's a typo and since the ballot is from Joe Bruno country I'm not surprised by it's appearance.

Regards

[Skip Intro]

8. Is mccain listed twice on that ballot - both repub and indy?

the osama bs is clearly not a mistake, but looking at that, just below, it looks like mccain is listed twice - wtf?

[WillyT]

14. Shit... I Didn't Notice That...

I got this from CNN, and assume it's the real thing.

But you know what happens when you assume...

:shrug:

[mhastings]

21. In some states candidates can be cross-nominated

by different parties. In New York Mccain was nominated by the Republican, Conservative and Independence parties; Obama by the Democratic and Working Families.

[gmoney]

9. Ouama - O7ama - Ovama - Ogama - Ohama - Omaha -- THOSE are typos

My guess is possibly someone did it as an interoffice joke, and the wrong one went to press.

[halobeam]

12. so your guess it was still an error?

[gmoney]

29. someone created it deliberately, but screwed up letting it go public...

just my guess... seems it would be grounds for dismissal if it was done deliberately.

[stopbush]

10. On the contrary, I have been involved in publishing for 16 years

and have read more proofs than I care to remember, and it is amazing what gets through the process uncorrected.

The only hard rule is that the mistake will be found as soon as the job is printed. In fact, your eye seems to go right to it every time!

This was probably an example of people too close to the process and to the name "Obama," reading proofs and imagining that they saw Obama rather than Osama. Most likely, their eyes filled in what they expected to see, rather than what was actually printed.

This is why writers should never proof read their own copy - you see what you meant to write, not what you did write.

[WillyT]

17. And That Is Why You Hand It To Several Different People...

before making the full run.

The chances of 3 or 5 people all missing the mistake is pretty small.

At least in my experience.

:shrug:

[stopbush]

23. Small, but it still happens.

I did a fund raiser this past June. We did a table card that listed the names of 40 prominent donors. There were 3 rounds of proofs that were seen by 6 different people inside and outside the office. The job was run with the surname of one prominent donor misspelled. The entire job had to be re-run the morning of the gala to correct the mistake that everyone missed. And this was a person well known in the organization!

[Essene]

37. correct... however mistakes still happen... AND THE DEMS LIKELY SIGNED OFF ON IT

[WillyT]

44. You Tend To Seem Hostile Towards The "Dems"...

Am I missing something?

:shrug:

[Berry Cool]

40. I admit, I am thinking the same, and I have about as many years in publishing myself.

Things can go past THREE proofreaders and STILL go uncaught. It's amazing. Especially if everyone is seeing what they "expect" to see, rather than what is there in front of them.

If your eyes see "Barack Obama" enough times out in the world, you may SEE "Barack Osama" once in something you're proofreading and THINK you saw "Obama." The mind plays terrible tricks on you and fools you into "seeing" what you expect to, rather than what is there before you.

And then the thing gets printed, and there it is: "Barack Osama."

And, if you're like me, you're absolutely mortified.

It happens. Not all the time, but it happens.

Ask anyone who has ever proofread something with the word "public" in it and later seen, to their horror, that it was printed, and it reads "pubic."

Never attribute to treachery what can be attributed to human error.

[renate]

11. nice catch, BlueIdaho and Skip Intro!

:applause:

Sharp eyes you've got there, with only part of the name showing.

Surely one guy can't run as two parties' nominee. That is one f-ed up ballot.

[Matariki]

13. wonder if they count the votes for Obama - if people check Osama?

what BS

[halobeam]

16. yeah, it may get tossed cuz it doesn't match his license!

isn't that a handy dandy mother of all voter purges! heh...

[Essene]

18. it oughta be criticized as harshly as possible, but i dont assume ill will at all

First of all, the DEMOCRATS in the county are insisting this was a simple mistake (i.e. they probably had to check it and didnt notice either).

Secondly, it's only 300 ballots that were sent out in a strongly democratic state. What we oughat be concerned with is a potential pattern.

Finally, dont tell me NONE of you have mistyped osama/obama before. I mix up words all the time and find this utterly easy to comprehend. :) Harder to swallow, though, is nobody catch it... but if the local dems insist it was an accident... it means THEY are implicated too.

[Whalestoe]

19. Why isn't it Joe Siden then? Typo my ass, you bet'cha.

[marshall]

20. At least they didn't use Hussein in the name

Supposedly both sides proof read the thing. It is hard to imagine how it slipped by and who the people were who were supposed to be catching that sort of thing.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

22. Time to wake up the lawyers

This is one of the most outrageous things I have ever seen. Heads need to roll on this one, and they will.

I come from a publishing background. Typically, a job is proofread, corrections made, and proofread again before being shipped to the printer. Once at the printer, many jobs come with a representative of the publisher to be on hand for final proofs and then quality control during the printing. As Willy T said, somebody is signing off on every step of the process in order to avoid sending millions of misprints to the shredder. Additionally, presses often have their own quality assurance techs and salespeople reviewing the printing.

A "mistake" like this must be intentional.

[Enthusiast]

25. It was NO innocent mistake.

These Republican operatives are the lowest life form.

[Eurobabe]

26. I'm not buying it either

this is a typical REPUBE stunt, trying to get M$M attention, right before the election.

[SmileyRose]

27. er - the *s* is nowhere near the *b* - NO ONE makes that kind of typo.

V, N, G, or H maybe. I type all day and I'm the typo queen. No way no how not ever is that a typo.

All the county people in charge should be fired and between them and the printer they should all be forced to reimburse the county.

[Essene]

30. I've done it a dozen times at least, myself. It's not about finger slipping.

Granted, i catch myself.

And... the dems and gop were supposed to approve these ballots, i suspect....

[cal04]

28. BOE of NY State

we need to call them and keep sending this to them
[e-mail]
numbers
NYS BOARD OF ELECTIONS
40 STEUBEN STREET
ALBANY, NY 12207-2108
[phone]

TDD/TTY Call the New York State Relay 711
Unit Contacts
Executive
[phone]
FAX [phone]

Public Information
[phone]
FAX [phone]

Adminstrative Office
[phone]
FAX [phone]

Election Operations
Voter Info. 1-800-367-8683
[phone]
FAX [phone]

National Voter Registration Act
NVRA Info. 1-800-469-6872
[phone]
FAX [phone]

[BrklynLiberal]

31. I may have been born at night, but not LAST NIGHT!!!l

That was no "accidental typo"

[progressoid]

33. No shit. Wonder how many more times this "mistake" will happen?

[myrna minx]

35. Oh right, S and B are easily interchangeable.

This wasn't an honest mistake. THey must think we're soooo stupid.

[nini]

36. yah.. the 's' and 'b' are right next to each other on the keyboard

:eyes:

[ailsagirl]

39. LOL

[Berry Cool]

41. It might not have been a keyboard error, but a mental error.

And not by someone who means ill, either. For example, you can know backwards and forwards that a particular person in your organization spells her first name Sherrie, and you may have to key her name into a document, but when you're keying it, your fingers type "Sherry" instead because your mind strays to a friend who spells her name Sherry. Or to the sherry you drink, or something.

People who have known me for years and have seen the uncommon way I spell my name numerous times, forwards, backwards and upside down, still spell it the more common way when writing me email and notes, all the time. Their minds just can't wrap themselves around the different spelling.

I call this a "thinko" rather than a "typo." I've done it myself. It doesn't happen because two letters are close together on the keyboard, it happens because the fingers automatically reach for the WRONG letter because the brain guiding them has short-circuited a bit. And it's highly embarrassing to those who pride themselves on accuracy and whose job depends on "getting it right." But even they are not perfect.

It doesn't require malice aforethought. It's just a mistake.

I know this won't make me popular here, but I think it's important to attempt to discern between malicious intent and sheer accident.

[nini]

42. Bullshit.. the reason being.. these things should be proofed by different eyes before printing

Even if you're right they screwed up big time.

[ailsagirl]

38. That was no error... man, they'll stop at nothing...

Remember in 2004 when some ballots had the little boxes you pen in half-way between shrub's name and Kerry's?? So that people weren't sure which box to fill in?? Another "mistake," supposedly. Right.

[janet118]

43. Just a thought . . .

What happens if some stupid Republicans vote for McCain in both parties? Would that disqualify the ballot? I think it should. Confusion can work both ways, right?

[stillcool]

46. That is just sad..

[yeswecan711]

48. im fucking PISSED.

[WillyT]

49. Butterfly Ballot Anyone !!!

:wtf:

[WinkyDink]

50. For that matter, why isn't it "Joseph Biden"?