The Times Union in Albany, New York reports that the Rensselaer County Board of Elections has made the mother of all typos and put Barack Osama on the ballot.

TROY — It could have been Ovama or Ofama. Or even Olama.

But with one “s” the Rensselaer County Board of Elections turned a single wrong letter into a national embarrassment Friday.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s last name is spelled “Osama” on some 300 absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County hilltowns.

Is it a Freudian slip, intentional gaffe or a mistake? Voters are sure to have opinions, and one politician pointed out that the letters “s” and “b” are not exactly keyboard neighbors.

“Of all the letters to hit by mistake,” County Democratic Chairman Tom Wade said. “Unfortunately it is a mistake which negatively impacts our Democratic candidate for president.”

The typo was first reported Friday on timesunion.com, and quickly grabbed national attention.

After reading the Times Union story and many of the associated comments I have to say never assume malice where incompetence will suffice.

If were going to assume malice on the part of government officials then we need to take hard look at the actions of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. I don’t see how any fair minded person can view her actions as anything other than partisan.