OSama on NY ballots. Oopsie or intentional?

Was it intentional that 300 people in New York received absentee ballots that had Obama's name listed as "Osama"?

With all of the proof-readers and editors involved in the ballots, how could something like this go unnoticed?

I find it hard to believe that this was a simple mistake.

Thoughts?

Jemison

[edit on 10-10-2008 by Jemison]

that is so messed up man...

You didn't mention if the ballots also incuded his middle name.


I don't know about you but that gives me the chills.

reply to post by Jemison


The democrats run the polls in NY, so why would they do it?

When Biden was first announced as the running mate I accidently said "Osama BinLaden" aloud even though it was "Obama-Biden" written so if I could do that without even realizing my error, I suppose it could have simply been an oversight, but still ... what an error!

And no, there was no mention of his middle name ... but *if* they were trying to make the Osama BinLaden connection, Hussein would detract from that, not help it.

Just seems like a pretty bad mistake!

timesunion.com...

Sorry, thought I edited the original post to include the link but I don't see it so hopefully the link above will work.

Jemison

[edit on 10-10-2008 by Jemison]

Actually, you are mistaken.

New York is a Democratic state because of the amount of voters that are from New York City.

The more distance you get from the city the more Republican you get. Most of the areas of upstate, including Troy (which is right outside Albany) are pretty Red.

Regarding the incident itself, this is absolutely not an accident and it is rather naive to believe it is.

Firstly, it's not a typo. The B and S keys are nowhere near each other so it's not as though someone could say a wrong key was hit.

It's difficult to say why something like this would be done. It could have been a prank I suppose, something someone thought was a harmless gag to get some laughs in the morning paper.

I'd go with fear mongering though. Why would Troy, NY make a good fear mongering project? Well...

en.wikipedia.org...

80% of this rural city is white. Almost 20% of it is below the poverty line. Perhaps some operatives see this small city in a "mostly" Red area as a target for some good scare tactics? Associate a candidate's name with a terrorist's name? Interesting...

Accident? I don't think so.

Maybe the ballots were printed in China?

..and the proofreader thought he was doing us a favor by correcting a name he thought was mispelled???

reply to post by nihilus

Regarding the incident itself, this is absolutely not an accident and it is rather naive to believe it is.

I agree that it seems highly unlikely that it was simply an oversight, however, what purpose does it serve to have this type of error going out to only 300 people? Wouldn't it make more sense, and more of an impact, to do this on a larger scale?

It seems to me there have been printing errors on ballots in previous years but nothing that would potentially have this type of psychological impact.

I wonder how many more 'errors' might appear in ballots in the coming weeks ... maybe next time the 'mistake' is made it will be sent to a lot more people.

Jemison

reply to post by Jemison


Perhaps a test? I'm unsure as to the logic of doing it for only 300 people except for the clear knowledge that there would be media coverage of it.

I think the effect is just to remind people "this guy has a name like a terrorist."

I'm sure there have been minor errors on ballots before, particularly in smaller operations, but of this nature? When something is prepared by hand there is always a risk of error. Could there possibly have once been an error turning "Johnston" to "Johnson", or "Sarah" to "Sara"? I'm sure there has been.

If it was a simple as a spelling error I'd be willing to call it an accident. If it said Obana or Ovama, ok.

I just see this as far more than that. I see the reaction of "Wow! His name really is like Osama! Osama Hussein! Wow!!"

I would suggest that both parties keep close eyes on the ballots that go out...