Thursday 4 November 2010

Amusing things to prepare for the more serious issues.

"In 2006, a dermatologist named Shelley Sekula-Gibbs became an official write-in candidate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Most of the voters in her Texas district cast their ballots using an electronic machine called the Hart InterCivic eSlate, which requires that you spell out a write-in candidate's name by using a dial to select letters from a full alphabet. The machines don't accept a hyphen, so Sekula-Gibbs removed the punctuation from her campaign materials. The eSlates were programmed to correct certain expected misspellings of her name, but more esoteric variations had to be reviewed. A bipartisan panel eventually came up with a 28-page list of acceptable aliases, including Kelly Segula Gibbs, Snelly Gibbr, Schikulla Gibbs, Sheila Gibbs, Shelly Schulla Gibbs, Shelly Gibkula, ShelleySkulaGibbsssss, and SSG. Variations on "Sekula" included Sektula, Sequila, Sedoko, Sedoka, and Shecola. The phrase "Shelly DraculaCunt Gibs" was also accepted by officials because the intent of the voter was deemed obvious."
Slate: What Happens If You Misspell Murkowski?, September 17, 2010

Note that he still voted for her. 
This is a more entertaining oddity of the political system than the fact that a minority has the power to block every single vote which considerably weakens the efficiency of a legislative body.

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