What is it with Florida?

Monday, November 13, 2006

Just mention the words election and Florida and all sorts of bizarre things come to mind. But I swear, I never thought of this one. An example of extreme stupidity from a Florida voter, from the BBC via Boing Boing:

Dorkas says: "Someone apparently used the rare 'Inverted Jenny' stamp, which shows an upside-down biplane, to mail in their absentee ballot in Broward County, Florida. The ballot box was sealed before the stamp could be officially identified and now it can't be reopened for 22 months. The stamp might be worth up to $100,000!"
Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom told reporters he spotted the red and blue Inverted Jenny on a large envelope with two stamps from the 1930s and another dating from World War II.
"I thought: 'Oh my God, I know that stamp, I've seen that stamp before,'" said Mr Rodstrom, 54, who collected stamps as a boy.

"I'd forgotten the name. I just remembered there was a stamp with an upside-down biplane on it, and that it was a very rare, rare stamp," he told Reuters news agency.

The official said the envelope had no return address, and the ballot was disqualified because it gave no clue as to the identity of the voter.

That was a very, very expensive, invalid, uncounted, wasted vote.

[Update: Jason Kottke reports that this may be a hoax -- of course, that's likely. But if, as he says, someone scanned in and then printed their own Inverted Jenny to affix to the ballot, what does this say about the USPS's ability to detect counterfeit stamps? Can I really just scan and print my own stamps and send mail with no questions asked? And if it all it takes is to leave off the return address, why would I ever buy another stamp?]

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