Alan Cheslow

Ever since Ron Paul advised his fans to vote against the status-quo duopoly, there has been a bit of FUD (or at least, uncertainty) going around about how states count write-in votes. Sandra Hamilton contributed a good article about why she will be voting not just against the Republicrats, but for Ron Paul as a write-in candidate. However, she cautions that each state handles write-in votes differently, and links to the requirements for write-in candidates in each state.

In Washington state, a write-in candidate must file a notarized “Declaration of Write-in Candidacy”. Unfortunately, anyone who ran in the state primary election is excluded from declaring their write-in candidacy for the general election, thus Ron Paul cannot be recognized as an official write-in candidate. Rather than trying to guess or assume what my state will really do with a write-in vote for Ron Paul, I asked the Office of the Secretary of State. Here is their response:

Good morning Alan,

Thank you for contacting the Secretary of State Elections Division.  You
will be credited for voting and it will be reflected in the grand total
of overall votes however votes for each individual candidate will not be
tallied unless they equal at least one percent of the vote.

I hope this information is helpful.  Should you have any other questions
please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Best regards,
Christina Rhoads
Office of the Secretary of State
Elections Division
PO Box 40229
Olympia, WA 98504-0029
(360) 902-4180
crhoads@secstate.wa.gov
www.vote.wa.gov

Look to this day, for it is Life, the very life of Life;
In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your
existence…
the bliss of Growth, the glory of Action, the splendour of Beauty.
—–Original Message—–
From: Alan Cheslow
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 10:05 PM
To: Elections
Subject: Write-in vote?

Hi, I understand that a person who desires to be a write-in candidate
must file a notarized “Declaration of Write-in Candidacy”.

How will my vote (for President) be counted if I vote for a person who
has not submitted this declaration? Will it at least be included in
the total number of votes cast, or will it be completely nullified?

Thanks,
–
Alan Cheslow

I can live with the limitation that my vote may not be counted specifically as a vote for Ron Paul as long as I have voted my conscience, and I know that my vote will be counted — or at least, legally should be counted. I know that some fear that their write-in votes for Ron Paul will be illegally discarded, but I will not let that fear prevent me from voting my conscience.

Update: I’ve also contacted the Seattle PI, KOMO 4 News, KIRO TV, and KING5 News asking them to research the response from the Elections Division and confirm whether or not this response is accurate. I’ll update this post if/when I hear back from any of them.

Update #2: I haven’t heard back from any of the press, but I did send a clarifying question to the Elections Division and they promptly responded with the following:

Alan,
 
1)     If you do not file a declaration of candidacy a voter must write your name in exactly as it appears on your voter registration.  If you file as a write in any variation of your name is accepted as long as voter intent is clear.
 
2)     If the overall write-in vote tally (every write-in vote) equals at least1% of the votes, individual write-in votes (each individual candidate) will be tallied. 
 
I’m not sure if I made this any clearer, it’s a tricky subject.  The bottom line with tallying write-in votes is that a clear impact needs to be made in order to tally them.  Individual write-in votes would take a lot of time and effort to tally without making any impact on the outcome of the race, hence the requirement for the 1%.
 
I hope this is helpful.
 
All the best,
Christina Rhoads
Office of the Secretary of State
Elections Division
PO Box 40229
Olympia, WA 98504-0029
(360) 902-4180
crhoads@secstate.wa.gov
www.vote.wa.gov
 
Look to this day, for it is Life, the very life of Life;
In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence…
the bliss of Growth, the glory of Action, the splendour of Beauty.

—–Original Message—–
From: Alan Cheslow
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008 12:18 PM
To: Elections
Subject: Re: Write-in vote?

 
Hello, and thank for your prompt response.
 
Can you please help clarify two points?
 
1) If votes for a write-in candidate who has not filed a “Declaration of Write-In Candidacy” are still counted, then what is the purpose of this declaration, and how are persons who have submitted this declaration handled differently from persons who have not submitted this declaration?
 
2) If you do not tally votes for individual candidates then how will you know whether or not they equal at least 1% of the vote?
 
Thanks again,
Alan Cheslow