The absentee ballots sent to voters in Rensselaer County in upstate New York identified the two presidential candidates as "Barack Osama" and "John McCain."

Officials from both sides of the aisle characterized it as a simple, innocent typo.

Edward McDonough, the Democratic commissioner said:

"No question this is an honest mistake innocently done. We catch almost everything."

Seeing as how McDonough is a Democrat, I'd be inclined to believe him. On the other hand, Republican Commissioner Larry Bugbee said:

"This was a typo. We have three different staff members who proof these things and somehow the typo got by us."

Wait, three people couldn't find this? Or maybe, what you want to say is, three people saw it and ignored it.

Innocent typo? I suppose, seeing as how "b" and "s" are so close on the keyboard. Oh, wait, they're not!, are they?!

While it's possible it could be a mistake, I wonder how it could have slipped through. And I'd also like to know what party the person who typed the ballot up is registered under.