The primary election was today. Primo was unopposed, but the Stripes ran three candidates for the senate. As the only Polka Dot I want to see elected is Primo and other than that, I want Stripes, I had to vote for the best Stripe. I do not want the Polka Dot candidate for senate to win. No way.
So I went to vote and there was Primo's name on the ballot - for those of you who don't vote in primaries, even the unopposed candidates appear on the ballot. If you really, really hate an unopposed candidate, you may write in a candidate of your choice, but really, don't do that. It is such a hassle for the volunteers who work at the polls. There is a reader that scans the ballots and tallies the totals, but we still have to go through every single ballot by hand, looking for write-ins, as their totals have to be scored as well. The ballot reader knows someone voted for a write-in, but does not know who. Would you want to look at a few hundred ballots at 8:30 at night after you've been at the polls since 6:00 a.m. just to identify the seven write-in votes? Don't do it. You might think you're Sending a Message, but the only message you're sending is to the volunteers who just want to go home.
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I agree, if you feel that strongly about it you should have done something long before the voting stage! Like at the "let's make sure s/he isn't unopposed stage".
ReplyDeleteExactly! Most people do it, I think, just to mess with the system and express their dislike of both candidates. The problem is that the only people who get the message are the volunteer pollworkers.
DeleteAs an Australian I find it incredible that write-in votes are taken seriously in the US. I mean, aren't there all sorts of hoops that the candidates on the ballot have to jump through? If a write-in candidate should win the ballot, what happens then? Has a write-in candidate ever won? These posts are fascinating, as much for revealing how an American election works in the details as in the great story you are telling!
ReplyDeleteKB, yes, legit candidates have to get nominating petitions signed, which is a lot of work. If a write-in candidate won, though, he would win. I don't know if it's ever happened. It probably has.
Delete(And thanks!)