Replacement ballots bear new typos

BIRMINGHAM, England, March 31 (UPI) -- Officials in an English city apologized for typos in voting cards mailed out to replace a previous round of misprinted cards.

Birmingham City Council officials confirmed the cards, sent out to replace 60,000 ballot cards bearing an incorrect return deadline, misspelled the city's name as "Birmingam" in the return address and contained the sentence, "Make it is not left where someone else can pick it up," omitting the word "sure," the Birmingham Mail reported Wednesday.

The officials said the cards bore the correct return deadline, April 29, 2010, and the typos do not warrant another round of replacements. The original cards gave the deadline as May 29, 2009, the deadline date for last year's European elections.

"We would like to apologize for the printing errors which have occurred on the postal ballot cards, and thank members of the public for bringing this to our attention," a council spokesman said. "Over recent years we have introduced rigorous checking processes to ensure the integrity of local elections and results are protected to the highest possible standard, and we accept these same standards need applying to all election literature."