When you really, really need to vote

Voter Uses Valuable Stamp to Send in Absentee Ballot

November 12, 2006 8:36 a.m. EST

Nicole King - All Headline News Staff Writer
Fort Lauderdale, FL (AHN) - A rare stamp worth as much as $200,000 is sealed
inside a ballot box. The stamp was used to mail in an absentee ballot, but
the ballot box cannot be opened by law.

There was no name on the envelope so the ballot did not count. A Broward
County commissioner saw the stamp when he was reviewing absentee ballots.

Kris Baker...

This morning's news says it's probably a fake:

MIAMI (Reuters) - A stamp that initially appeared to be a rare 1918
"Inverted Jenny," used by a Florida voter to mail an absentee ballot last
week, is probably a fake, an official with the American Philatelic Society
said on Tuesday.

After viewing photographs of the stamp, which turned up on a ballot envelope
in Fort Lauderdale, officials with the U.S. stamp collectors' organization
said they found inconsistencies that led them to believe it was a
reproduction.

The Inverted Jenny took its name from an image of a biplane accidentally
printed upside down. Only 100 of the misprinted stamps have ever been found,
making them among the rarest in the world of philately.

Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom, a member of the Florida county's
Canvassing Board, said he spotted the red-and-blue stamp, along with two
stamps from the 1930s and another dating to World War Two, on an envelope
used to mail an absentee ballot for last week's election.

Philatelic Society director Peter Mastrangelo said a preliminary analysis
found the thickness of the Florida stamp's paper appeared to be different
from that of a real Jenny, the blue color and the perforations did not match
the originals and the stamp bore strong similarities to a known counterfeit.

"Based on what we've seen, we're of the opinion that this is a questionable
item that appears to be reproduction of the error stamp," said Mastrangelo.

He said experts would have to see the stamp in person to make a final
determination.

A single Inverted Jenny could be worth $300,000, said Mastrangelo. A block
of four was swapped recently for another rare stamp in a transaction valued
at nearly $3 million.

The stamp is what is known as an "Inverted Jenny." Printed in 1918, they're
worth 24-cents. At least four sheets of the stamp went through the printing
presses the wrong way, creating the upside down plane. Only one sheet of the
four made it into the public.

Election officials will keep the ballot for 22 months. The county elections
supervisor decides what to do after that. Ballots and materials are usually
destroyed when they're no longer needed.

Since the stamp was mailed, its value was reduced to between $20,000 to
$100,000. Stamp collectors for years have tried to find all of the "Inverted
Jennys"