Want your vote to count? Use a Uni-ball pen!

Some P.R. companies are going way overboard in trying to take advantage of election fever.

Published November 3, 2008 6:00PM (EST)

Every day, my in box gets flooded with all sorts of dubious election-related pitches from P.R. people. Seems like everyone's trying to take advantage of election fever, and they want me to write about their new Facebook application, a survey of the kids who use their company's textbooks or their latest text-message polling methods.

But one e-mail I got today was so over-the-top ridiculous that I just had to share it. (Actually, it's the second time this particular rep has e-mailed me. I only glanced at the first one and didn't realize just how absurd it was; today was a follow-up e-mail "to guage [sic] your interest in incorporating this last minute voting tidbit.")

Here's the e-mail, minus information that would identify the sender:

Dear Alex,

With Election Day around the corner, I wanted to pass along a last minute tidbit for your readers to make sure their votes count this year.

According to verifiedvoting.org, more than 15 states still use paper ballots and an additional 22 states use mixed forms of paper balloting. Depending on where your readers live, the writing instrument they choose to darken those ovals could make all the difference. The unique formula of ink in Uni-ball pens is proven to prevent document fraud (and check washing), so we’d like to remind paper voters to make the right choice and use a secure pen to ensure a tamper-proof vote.

For more information on uni-ball pens or to receive a copy of the release, please let me know.

Thanks,

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By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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