# Little Bobby Tables votes in Sweden **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004 "2010-10-31T20:25:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/1 "2010-10-31T20:25:02Z")
According to this [article](http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-09/24/sweden-election-hack), a handwritten vote almost deleted the voter database. I thought it was interesting they can actually hand-write their own ballots in Sweden. And yes, they actually cite the relevant [XKCD](http://xkcd.com/327/). ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/2 "2010-10-31T20:43:01Z")
There needs to be a word for something that is simultaneously evil and shouldn’t-be-done yet full of win. (Er, full of win if the hacker also voted for Bobby Tables.) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/3 "2010-10-31T22:57:12Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > There needs to be a word for something that is simultaneously evil and shouldn’t-be-done yet full of win. (Er, full of win if the hacker also voted for Bobby Tables.) Tabledropping? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/4 "2010-11-01T08:04:10Z")
That’s it! On my voter card there’s a lot of incumbents running unopposed. I wonder if a write-in candidate for **Robert’); DROP TABLE Votes;–** would cause some havoc. It’d be better than my other usual write ins, like Anita Mandic and Oliver Clozhohf. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/5 "2010-11-01T10:12:12Z")
I tried following the link about ‘election law’ in the original link and got some editorial about not deserving to be able to vote if you can’t walk to a voting booth. I worked the elections last September over here and didn’t see any physical provisions for full-on write-in ballots, so I suspect there may be a misinterpretation here. In any case, sneaky little hackers. Is funny. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/6 "2010-11-01T10:28:24Z")
I’ve got a Swedish friend who commented on this elsewhere, saying that the vast, vast majority of voters use printed ballots rather than handwriting them in, but that there are blank ballots around for use and that some parties distribute blank ballots which have their party name pre-printed. Also, the ballot results were apparently online even before the vote-counting was done, so some sharp-eyed people (including my friend) noticed stuff like this before it hit the media. Some people apparently make a game out of things like voting for Donald Duck (Kalle Anka) and others, so people look for that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/7 "2010-11-01T10:28:49Z")
It still surprises me to this day that programming languages and scripts don’t sanitize inputs by default. My QBASIC interpreter from the DOS days did that. Also, my absentee ballot has a place for write-in candidates. If I remember correctly, at the actual (computerized) voting booth, if you chose a blank, you’d get an onscreen keyboard that would not include punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/8 "2010-11-01T10:50:21Z")
The first time I met the head of the Swedish Election Authority he tried to strangle me when he discovered that I was the person who had ordered the printing of ballots for [this party](http://mickelin.com/ezen/) (you can see a photo of them in the link). He also once tried to omit the votes for “fun” parties in the official report of the elections, but parliament later forced him to account for each and every vote cast. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/9 "2010-11-01T11:16:45Z")
I just may right in Bobby Tables for all my candidates here instead of Voldemort. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/10 "2010-11-01T11:19:20Z")
First, I am gratified to see xkcd implemented in Real Life… 😃 Second… why in Og’s name aren’t the data entry people instructed to enter write-in ballots **without any punctuation**? Problem trivially solved… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/11 "2010-11-01T12:30:19Z")
So whoever was doing the data entry actually faithfully copied out “pwn DROP TABLE VALJ” for the party name? Also re this part: > [@](#): > > It requires you to know, or succesfully guess, the name of the database, however, which may have been why it failed Surely it would have failed anyway, as the quote mark wasn’t included? ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/12 "2010-11-01T12:32:00Z")
On re-read, I especially love how the write-in name starts with “pwn”… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bobby-tables-votes-in-sweden/559004/13 "2010-11-01T13:54:44Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I’ve got a Swedish friend who commented on this elsewhere, saying that the vast, vast majority of voters use printed ballots rather than handwriting them in, but that there are blank ballots around for use and that some parties distribute blank ballots which have their party name pre-printed. I _wondered_ what those were for. Ignorance fought.