# It wab jubt an innocent mibtake **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386 "2008-10-10T22:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/1 "2008-10-10T22:08:25Z")
[NY election mix-up](http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9YDTLWNOCPajU80ZrttdJwCeATwD93NRLQG0) Bullbhit. Bome abbhole did thib on purpobe. (I like that the AP called it a “typographical terror”. Heh.) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/2 "2008-10-10T22:18:50Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Bullbhit. Bome abbhole did thib on purpobe. Your keyboarding errors are not very believable, as the ‘b’ key is 3 over and 1 down from the ‘s’ key. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/3 "2008-10-10T22:20:14Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Your keyboarding errors are not very believable, as the ‘b’ key is 3 over and 1 down from the ‘s’ key. …There’s a woosh here, but damned if I can tell who’s wooshing who. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/4 "2008-10-10T22:22:47Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Your keyboarding errors are not very believable, as the ‘b’ key is 3 over and 1 down from the ‘s’ key. I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/5 "2008-10-10T23:07:16Z")
I like the article’s fourth sentence: > [@](#): > > 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. No?!? _Really?_ I must make a note of that information! I mean, here I am, just made a miraculous recovery after twelve years in a coma–all my doctors were shocked and amazed, let me tell you–and I’m trying to make up my mind about who to vote for in the Presidential election. Now, what’s this about the stock market? The Dow’s at 8,000? Hot damn! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/6 "2008-10-10T23:10:24Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Would you like to subscribe, or busbcrise? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/7 "2008-10-10T23:15:33Z")
Knowing Rensselaer County, it’s less likely it was intentional, and more likely that one of the members of the board of elections gave the ballot printing job to his incompetent drunk cousin. Either that, or it was given to Joe Bruno’s incompetent drunk cousin. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/8 "2008-10-10T23:19:02Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Knowing Rensselaer County, it’s less likely it was intentional, and more likely that one of the members of the board of elections gave the ballot printing job to his incompetent drunk cousin. > > Either that, or it was given to Joe Bruno’s incompetent drunk cousin. Probably true. Given that the error appeared in only one district out of the whole county, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it was some numbnuts making a brainfart. (“B” to “S” is not a plausible single-letter typo, but I’ve often found myself typing completely wrong words which are similar to the one I meant.) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/9 "2008-10-10T23:22:14Z")
> [@](#): > > McDonough said the “Osama” mistake was made in only one of the 13 ballot versions mailed throughout the county Why would they have 13 differenct versions of the ballot? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/10 "2008-10-10T23:25:21Z")
Leave it to **Liberal** to automatically assume it was done maliciously. I can believe it was a typo. True, the S key is nowhere B key, but it _is_ near the A key. It’s easy to imagine a fat-fingered typist hitting A and S at the same time and typing OBSAMA, then screwing up the subsequent edit (slip of the mouse places the caret one letter off, for example) by deleting the wrong letter. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/11 "2008-10-10T23:33:08Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Why would they have 13 different versions of the ballot? In Los Angeles County, multiple versions of the ballot are sent out to minimize any advantage of a candidate’s name being listed first on the ballot. This assumes people vote the same way they pick a plumber out the yellow pages. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/12 "2008-10-10T23:34:04Z")
Harder to explain away are the ballots featuring Barack Obama and John McHitler. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/13 "2008-10-10T23:36:21Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > This assumes people vote the same way they pick a plumber out the yellow pages. The average voter is a moron. I wouldn’t _not_ assume they vote that way. ---
**Author:** ![Hogwash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@Hogwash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogwash)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/14 "2008-10-10T23:38:23Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > In Los Angeles County, multiple versions of the ballot are sent out to minimize any advantage of a candidate’s name being listed first on the ballot. This assumes people vote the same way they pick a plumber out the yellow pages. Christ. Maybe we don’t deserve fair elections. Maybe we deserve nuclear annihilation. And by ‘we’ I mean the entire human race. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/15 "2008-10-10T23:43:29Z")
So where’s **Bricker** denouncing this transparently partisan ploy on the part of Republicans? Sure, the election commissioners issued a statement claiming that it was just an honest typographical error, but why should we believe them? (Meh, it’s hard to maintain the full **Bricker** -like intensity of sneering assholishness unless you actually are **Bricker**. He must have to practice a lot.) ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/16 "2008-10-10T23:45:19Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Why would they have 13 different versions of the ballot? Apparently Rensselaer County has 14 towns and 2 cities. It also includes 2 Congressional districts and 2 New York Assembly districts. Depending on which town or city and which districts you were in, you would need the appropriate ballot to vote for the right measures and candidates. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/17 "2008-10-10T23:57:19Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Why would they have 13 differenct versions of the ballot? > [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > In Los Angeles County, multiple versions of the ballot are sent out to minimize any advantage of a candidate’s name being listed first on the ballot. This assumes people vote the same way they pick a plumber out the yellow pages. Los Angeles voters must be even stupider than most. The reason the county would have 13 different ballots is because of various permutations of overlapping municipal, state legislative, and congressional district borders. Every county election board in the state (except for New York City which has a single citywide board) has to figure all that stuff out every year. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/18 "2008-10-11T00:09:37Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > I like the article’s fourth sentence: > > No?!? _Really?_ I must make a note of that information! I mean, here I am, just made a miraculous recovery after twelve years in a coma–all my doctors were shocked and amazed, let me tell you–and I’m trying to make up my mind about who to vote for in the Presidential election. > > Now, what’s this about the stock market? The Dow’s at 8,000? Hot damn! It’s an AP article- for global consumption, not just American readers. [QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip] Harder to explain away are the ballots featuring Barack Obama and John McHitler. [/QUOTE] And to think- I thought you were losing your touch. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/19 "2008-10-11T00:32:35Z")
> [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](#): > > I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Man, one day I’d love to be able to use that phrase, it too funny. well done! or "wrlk donr! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386/20 "2008-10-11T01:29:35Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Los Angeles voters must be even stupider than most. Pretty much, yeah. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-wab-jubt-an-innocent-mibtake/467386.md?page=2)