Spanish Translation Blog

Election Mistranslations and Mistakes

After hearing about the now infamous Obama/Osama slips (John Ashcroft, Mitt Romney, etc.), plus the thousands of intentional “jokes” (Rush Limbaugh, Liz Trotta) on an almost weekly basis, one would think that the election and campaign mix-ups and mistakes would have run out by now. But a translated letter sent out to Spanish-speaking voters in Westchester, New York told potential voters that election day was November 9th instead of November 4th.

This unbelievable oversight was in the Spanish language section of a letter on voting procedure in Westchester, New York that was sent out by the Board of Elections.  This is the very same New York Board of Elections that sent out over four hundred absentee ballots with an option to vote for “Barack Osama” (instead of “Barack Obama”).  The letter with the incorrect election day is said to have been sent to nearly twenty-thousand people.

Will all of this have an effect on election results? Doubtful. Is this a lesson on the importance of proofing? Definitely.