Some County Election Offices Keep Track of All Presidential Write-ins, Even Though the Law Doesn’t Require It

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In most states, write-ins for president in the general election are only tallied statewide for write-in candidates who filed a declaration of candidacy. But around the nation, some county election officials go beyond the requirement of the law, and record all the write-ins. This means that there can never be a final complete total of all presidential vote returns. Anyone who has the patience to visit county election offices is likely to find tallies that don’t appear on the official state returns.

For example, Rowan County, North Caorlina made available a list of all write-ins for president, and this newspaper story has information about that. In North Carolina, Jade Simmons was the only write-in candidate who filed. Few write-in candidates file for write-in status in North Carolina, because the state requires them to also submit a petition of 500 names, but a rather early deadline.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Tallies All Presidential Write-ins and Reports Totals for Candidates with At Least Ten Write-ins

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Unlike most states that have write-in space on presidential general election ballots, New Hampshire has no procedure for a write-in candidate to file a declaration of write-in candidacy. Instead, New Hampshire simply tallies all presidential write-ins. This year the Secretary of State’s website lists everyone who got at least ten write-ins for president. Although Howie Hawkins had the most, all the others who got at least 100 were not actual candidates, but were famous Democrats and Republicans, such as Michelle Obama and Mitt Romney. See the list here. Click on the pdf for the write-ins.

Rhode Island Libertarian Legislative Nominee Polls 40.5% in Two-Way Race

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William J. Hunt, Libertarian nominee for Rhode Island State House, district 68, polled 40.53% earlier this month. The vote was 2,995 for Hunt and 4,394 for his Democratic opponent.

Hunt has good name recognition in the district, because this is the fourth time in a row he has run. In 2016 he polled 38.28%; in 2018 he got 35.57%. In a special election in March 2019, he got 28.4% in a four-way race, finishing second. The district is centered on the town of Warren.

Although independents are sometimes elected to the Rhode Island legislature, no party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has elected a legislator in Rhode Island since 1920.

New Mexico Elects First Independent Legislator

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This month, New Mexico voters elected Brittney Aileene Barreras as an independent to the state House of Representatives, district 12. She was the only name on the ballot, but she had a write-in opponent who was the newly-appointed Democratic incumbent, Art De La Cruz. The vote was 4,183 for Barreras, and 1,482 write-ins for De La Cruz.

Democrats had no one on the primary ballot because the earlier incumbent, Patricio Ruiloba, made a technical error on his primary petition. He couldn’t be a write-in in the Democratic primary because New Mexico does not permit write-ins in primaries. Ruiloba’s primary petitions omitted the district number. Ruiloba sued to regain his position on the primary ballot, but he lost. Since he couldn’t be re-elected anyway, except as a write-in in the November election, he resigned from the legislature and filed to run for Sheriff.

Barreras was able to qualify as an independent candidate because she had previously been registered as an independent. However, she says it was just an accident that she became a registered independent. When she filled out the voter registration form, somehow she missed seeing the blank for partisan affiliation, so she was coded as an independent by default. She says that she will switch her registration to Democratic to make it easier to run for re-election in 2022.

New Mexico did not permit independent candidates to run for any partisan office until 1977. The state was forced to pass a procedure for independent candidates after independent presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy sued the state and won. Thanks to Rick Lass for the news about Barreras.