Our SFist Emeryville correspondent received, unsolicited, an Alameda County permanent absentee voter application in the mail yesterday and noticed that it was addressed in a bizarre order: middle-first-last. His fiancee's was addressed the same way. In this most important election, there's no room for accidents that might lead to invalidating whole blocks of voters, landing California in a Florida-sized debacle. So SFist called the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. "The printing company made a mistake," Susie Navarro, the woman who answered the phone, told us. She assured us that the addresses were simply printed wrong, and it shouldn't affect voters when they mail in their absentee ballot applications. Apparently the bar code is correct, even if the addressing isn't. If you have any questions or concerns, or just want to be reassured personally, call the county registrar at 510 272-6973.

Just remember: when the country is focused on one bay area county as the 2004 election is held up, you'll know you heard it here first!