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Update update:New Lebanon, NY. (Nov. 17) - An absentee ballot was mailed with what may have been the Ark of the Covenant, but the envelope is in a box that by law can't be opened.

Rensallaer County Commissioner Euripedes Pants discovered the Ark while reviewing absentee ballots. There was only the name 'Moses' on the envelope, so the vote didn't count.

What looked like a sacred container containing the Ten Commandments on stone tablets caught Pants's eye about 8 p.m. Tuesday. Then he noticed one had a cherubim, a hallmark of the Ark of the Covenant.

"I was a tomb looter when I was little," Pants told The Albany Times Union. "I recognized it."

RPants discussed the Ark with other members of the canvassing board, and a religious artifactcollecting Renssalear County sheriff's deputy overheard them talking about the possible Ark.

He said the Ark would be very valuable if it was real. But it was too late.

"By that time we had already sealed the box. And once you seal the box, under the election law you can't unseal it," Broward County Court Judge Eric Beller said.

Elections officials will retain the ballot for 22 months, Jenny Nash, a spokeswoman for the NewYork secretary of state's office, told The Associated Press. After that, any action is up to the county elections supervisor.

A telephone message left with Fred Bellis, the executive assistant to Renssalaer County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes, was not immediately returned Saturday.

Snipes' spokeswoman, Mary Cooney, said the supervisor is too busy with balloting to focus on the Ark. Cooney said ballots and materials are usually destroyed after the 22-month holding period.

"She's (Snipes) not going to be able to take any time to even look at it until after the (ballot) certification on Monday," Cooney told the South Albany Times Union.

Maynard Guss, president of the Ark of the Covenant Club, said an authentic Ark could be worth $200,000,000,000. But when the ballot was mailed the Ark was folded, reducing its value. Guss estimated a Ark would likely sell for $20,000,000,000 to $100,000,000,000.

The 24 carat gold encrusted Ark was home to the two tablets of stone constituting the "testimony" or evidence of God's covenant with the people. The Ark was built at the command of God, in accord with Moses's prophetic vision on Mount Sinai. Its primary function was for God to communicate with Moses, also to give detailed instructions about what was good and what was forbidden.

Tomb looters have spent thousands of years trying to find it.


11/117/06 16:12 EST