Election Supervisor Error Costs Small Michigan Town's Taxpayers $24,000

This is how government often works. First, someone makes an error. Then, that someone tries to find someone else to blame it on. Then, failing that, tries to ignore it. Then, taxpayers cough up the money to cover the cost of the mistake.
In this case, it was a ballot mistake last fall that spelled candidate Obama's name "Barak" rather than the correct "Barack." One could see if this were a city council candidate. But this was the future president. And no one is willing to take the blame. In this case, the Ionia County Clerk, Tonda Rich, an elected official, refuses to accept the fact that she allowed a typo that misspelled the name of the future U.S. president to get past her.