New York held primaries for Congress on June 28. Write-ins in New York primaries are not permitted unless someone files a petition asking that primary write-ins be counted. Once that petition is accepted, all write-ins are valid, whether the write-in candidate wanted write-ins counted or not.
In the 12th district, in the Reform Party, Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, won the Reform nomination with 2 write-ins. There were also three individuals who received one write-in each. Here is the New York City Board of Elections certification for that primary.
Ivanka Trump is free to decline the nomination. Here is a news story about that primary. Thanks to Frank Morano for the link and to Independent Political Report for the link to the certification.
So basically you’re saying that if n New York goes Republican in November, Ivanka could be elected to Congress on the Reform Party line, because of 2 write-in votes in a primary that she didn’t enter?
The 12th district is overwhelmingly Democratic. And I expect Ivanka Trump to withdraw in any event. And even if she didn’t, she would certainly not defeat the major party nominees.
The candidate themselves doesn’t need to be the one filing the petition to have the write-ins counted–it can be anyone? In Illinois, write-ins simply aren’t counted, unless a candidate files a “declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate” prior to the election. I was once elected as a precinct committeeman with a single write-in vote–my own.
I live in that district. It is the East Side of Manhattan, and the now-gentrified stretch of waterfront Brooklyn and Queens — Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Long Island City, Astoria — and represented by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who usually gets over 90% of the vote in general elections.
In 2013, I was a member of the Working Families party. There was a write-in space for the City Council in the primary and I wrote in my friend, the well-known writer Tao Lin. When I checked the election returns, the winner of the Democratic primary for City Council had also gotten nine write-in votes in the Working Families primary. “Tad Lin” got one vote, or 10%. I need to improve my handwriting.
Unlike in other states where I’ve voted — Florida and Arizona — in New York, write-in candidates do not have to register, and anyone can write-in anyone’s name and have it be counted.
Too bad that the actor Tony Danza, who lived three blocks away from me in Brooklyn in the 1960s, tied another write-in in another district. It’s too bad that in the districts like the one Danza was a candidate (without his knowledge) that resulted in 1-1 ties, no candidate will be on the ballot.
From what I hear from people who know her, Ivanka was a registered Democrat until fairly recently.
If Ivanka does nothing (neither accepts nor declines) will she appear on the ballot?
If a voter wants their vote for either Trump or Clinton counted, but wishes it known that their support is “under protest” are they allowed to file petitions validating the write-in candidacies of either or both? Which states would allow this, which would not and in which are the laws so unclear that, for example, had Bush defeated Gore by 537 votes in Florida, Y2K but 600 votes wrote in Gore, would this have been another job for SCOTUS? (And what if election issues deadlock 4-4 without a President to appoint a justice to break the tie?)
If Richard has posted on this already, could you link or, if you are familiar with legal commentary on same, it would be appreciated.
http://donjonesindex.com