There's A Big Mistake On Some Debate Tickets

You would think that being the Democratic nominee for president, former secretary of state and former first lady would mean that people would spell your name right, but sure enough, Hillary Clinton's name is misspelled on approximately 350 Hofstra University presidential debate tickets. The tickets promise a 90 minute debate between Donald Trump and "Hilary" Clinton.

The good news is that the mistake didn't appear on the actual debate tickets; those include the proper spelling, which includes two "l"s in Clinton's first name — but instead, these error-ridden tickets can be found on the souvenir tickets given to Hofstra students who won seats to the event. Hofstra University spokeswoman Karla Schuster told NBC 4 New York that the mistake was a last minute oversight, and will be rectified.

"These tickets are not official tickets to the debate," Schuster said. "They were printed at the last minute to create a souvenir for the students. We'll be reprinting them for all those who won tickets."

Although the mistake is embarrassing, it should be noted that Hofstra University wasn't initially supposed to host the debate, and only won the honor after Wright State University in Ohio pulled out in July, citing high costs. According to USA Today, the debate could have cost the university as much as $8 million. Hofstra, which had volunteered to be the alternate, has previously hosted presidential debates in 2008 and 2012.

The debate, which is the first of three showdowns that Clinton and Trump will have this season, is an important night for both candidates. Just hours ahead of the debate, new polls show Trump and Clinton as neck-in-neck in key states. While Trump needs to take advantage of the night to show his expertise and knowledge on key issues, Clinton needs to break through to voters and show a softer, more approachable side. Americans are very familiar with Trump, but analysts all say that the main challenge in front of Clinton is to get voters to like her and know her better.

Voters who want to know Clinton better might start with learning to spell her name right, but maybe it's not fair to be so hard on the Hofstra worker who made the mistake. After all, maybe they were too busy watching Clinton's appearance on "Between Two Ferns", where she was identified as, yup, "Hilary Clinton." Hopefully this debate will help educate voters on Clinton's stances, as well as proper spelling.