New York absentee ballots misprint reads "Barack Osama"

What region is affected? (City, County, State)
Rensselaer County, New York
What voters would be affected?Absentee voters (about 300)
How would tactic suppress votes?
Barack Osama BallotBy reinforcing the similarity between the names of Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden (actual effect unclear)
Who is behind it?Unclear. County Elections Office Commissioners claim it's just a typo -- although it's a pretty incredible typo, considering the S and B are nowhere near each other on a keyboard.
Links to media/blog coverage? (provide headline with link, writer, name of outlet/blog and publication date. try to list most recent at top)
Possible laws violated?
  • Probably not. The ballots are being corrected and this may well have been an honest "human error" -- although given that Rennselaer is the only county in the state that prints its own absentee ballots, it at least raises the question as to whether there is adequate oversight.
Embed YouTube if available.
What's the last known status?Replacement ballots are being printed and mailed out.
What actions can be taken?
  • None (short of demanding an investigation into the 'misprint')

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Green-Arrow 		Latest page update: made by Green-Arrow , Oct 15 2008, 7:24 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Green-Arrow Edited by Green-Arrow

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Keyword tags: absentee New York Obama
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Anonymous Brooklyn - broken machines, had to vote by affidavit 0 Nov 4 2008, 11:27 AM EST by Anonymous
Thread started: Nov 4 2008, 11:27 AM EST  Watch
Went to vote at PS 382 in Brooklyn NY at 6:15am.

Two for four machines were broken, and they didn't appear to have the book listing registered voters. Everyone coming from my neighborhood was directed to fill out an affidavit ballot. There was no way on the form to indicate a broken machine, so we were instructed to check the box saying that our names weren't on the list of registered voters, but we swear we did register. They said our votes will count the same as if we'd used the machine.
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Keyword tags: affidavit broken machine (edit keyword tags)

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