Ohio Secretary of State Will Refuse to Count Votes for Jill Stein Because the Green Party Tried to Substitute a New Vice-Presidential Nominee

On September 25, the Ohio Secretary of State said he won’t count votes for Jill Stein, even though she is on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate. This is because the Ohio Greens sent in paperwork to swap out the stand-in vice-presidential nominee, Anita Rios, with the actual vice-presidential nominee, Butch Ware. The paperwork caused the problem. The due date for withdrawal is later than the due date for a new nominee. Therefore, the Ohio Secretary of State deemed the withdrawal of the stand-in to be timely, and he interpreted it as a withdrawal of Jill Stein herself and the stand-in vice-presidential candidate. But he deemed the new vice-presidential name to be too late.

There are other states in the past in which presidential candidates appeared on the November ballot without a vice-presidential nominee, but no such instances in Ohio.

The Green Party hopes to bring a lawsuit to overturn the decision. In the meantime elections officials have already prepared a postal mailing to all the voters who received an absentee ballot, telling them votes for Stein won’t count.


Comments

Ohio Secretary of State Will Refuse to Count Votes for Jill Stein Because the Green Party Tried to Substitute a New Vice-Presidential Nominee — 32 Comments

  1. IMO, if her electors are qualified, then their votes deserve to be counted. They are the actual candidates. If there is no VP listed, then the electors are free to vote for whomever they want for VP.

  2. Are you the Ohio secretary of state? No? Then your opinion is irrelevant. Well, it might matter if you were one of the judges who might hear the appeals, but you’re probably not one of those either.

  3. As a great man once said;

    Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.

  4. Says a progressive leftist? Y’all are the textbook definition of absolute insanity.

  5. “In the meantime elections officials have already prepared a postal mailing to all the voters who received an absentee ballot, telling them votes for Stein won’t count.”

    What about voters who will receive an absentee ballot in the future? What about those who will vote in person? How many thousands or millions of people will end up being notified about this?

  6. Boycotting voting’s great, boycotting voting’s good, not everybody does it, but everybody should.

  7. Any other states like this where a candidate will be listed but not counted other than West/de la Cruz in Georgia

  8. I’m have sent my absentee ballot in already and voted for Jill Stein (middle finger to Trump and Harris supporters).

  9. What typical LaRose nonsense. How about he also disqualifies the Democratic ticket for substituting Harris for Biden without putting it to a vote.

  10. I just wiped my butt with my absentee ballot and sent it to Frank LaRose along with a big middle finger and a picture of a Haitian illegal carrying a duck home for dinner.

  11. How is this a win for democracy? There is no democracy in America. This is not okay. Just another way to limit our options. I’m writing in Jill Stein and Butch Ware if I have too. Ohio is corrupt to the core. They literally make it impossible for third parties. Greens and others don’t take corporate funds or funds from other countries or from super pacs. This is unacceptable.the votes should be counted.

  12. As a protest vote, I’m casting my vote for the write-in ticket of Maya Butt-Hertz, and her running mate Ivy Ben Scrood.

    Write-in votes for Jill Stein and Butch Ware will not be counted, since they are not valid write-in candidates.

    Selecting the ticket of Jill Stein and Anita Rios that appears on the ballot will not be counted, according to this article.

    My protest vote will not be counted, either. However, at least I am intentionally voting for a non-valid ticket, rather than wasting effort trying to vote for the candidate I actually wanted (Jill Stein) knowing that it won’t count. I already did that when Ralph Nader ran in 2004, and got knocked off the ballot here in Ohio. I’m not making that mistake again.

  13. “Selecting the ticket of Jill Stein and Anita Rios that appears on the ballot will not be counted, according to this article.”

    Which also makes that a valid protest. Except that could be seen as Jill Stein having ones support which, if you don’t support her, makes it an inferior choice of protest vote. Besides, there is always the risk that the decision will be reversed.

    But since you wanted to vote for Stein anyway, that seems like a win-win for you. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I don’t understand what makes voting for a fake ticket more desirable than voting for the ticket you wanted?

    “Write-in votes for Jill Stein and Butch Ware will not be counted, since they are not valid write-in candidates.”

    Who are the valid write-in candidates in Ohio?
    Ayyadurai-Ellis and de la Cruz-Garcia didn’t make the ballot, but appear to have write-in access.
    Whereas Terry-Broden and West-Abdullah didn’t make the ballot and seem to also not have write-in access.
    Besides the former two, are there any others?

  14. I’m tired of all of the uncertainty and games being played about ballot access. First Kennedy withdraws, and now this. If I’m going to cast a protest vote, then I want to make sure my vote won’t be counted. A pox on all of their houses. I also refuse to leave my ballot blank, hence the fake ticket.

    According to the Richland County Board of Elections website, the other valid write-in candidates (besides the ones you already listed) are:

    John Cheng and Wayne Waligorski

    Cherunda Fox and Harlan McVay Jr.

    Brian Kienitz and Christina Johnston

    Of course, the list on this website (updated 10/1/2024 at 4:45 PM) still shows Jill Stein and Anita Rios as Valid, so take that list with a grain of salt. Also, for some reason, the Candidate List look-up feature excludes all Libertarian candidates. (Yes, I made sure the Libertarian check-box is checked. By default, all party option boxes are automatically checked.) However, the Sample Ballot does show the Libertarian ticket for president and vice president, along with the Libertarian US Senate candidate. I haven’t heard about any challenges to the Libertarian Party’s ballot access in Ohio. So, this appears to be a glitch with the Board of Elections website.

    Again, though, the Richland County Board of Elections is giving out false information (if you select the Candidate List, but don’t bother to look at the Sample Ballot). So in protest, I am not going to vote Libertarian, either.

  15. “If I’m going to cast a protest vote, then I want to make sure my vote won’t be counted. A pox on all of their houses. I also refuse to leave my ballot blank, hence the fake ticket.”

    OK, fair enough.

    “According to the Richland County Board of Elections website, the other valid write-in candidates (besides the ones you already listed) are:”

    Thank you! I wasn’t having much luck finding them on the secretary of state’s website or elsewhere.

    “Also, for some reason, the Candidate List look-up feature excludes all Libertarian candidates.”

    Huh. So they are either incompetent, or trying to suppress information about alternative candidates, or both. How convenient.

    “Again, though, the Richland County Board of Elections is giving out false information (if you select the Candidate List, but don’t bother to look at the Sample Ballot). So in protest, I am not going to vote Libertarian, either.”

    Yeah, fair enough. I’m not sure I would reason in the same way, but I can definitely see where you are coming from.

    Thanks for taking the time to explain your reasoning, and for figuring out the Ohio write-in candidates. I appreciate it. Have a nice day and more power to your protest vote!

  16. I’m a Quaker woman (65 yrs old). I’m glad to have this information since I was confused about Jill Green and Rios. I thought they were libertarian, and was thinking of voting for them. I didn’t want to vote early since I live just across the street from my voting place. I think anyone who was confused should be allowed to put in another valid vote. Just my opinion!

  17. Jennifer Snow Wolff said: “I think anyone who was confused should be allowed to put in another valid vote.”

    This raises an interesting question:
    My absentee ballot has already been accepted for counting. If Jill Stein wins her court case, so that votes for her ticket will actually be counted, could I still contact my Board of Elections to claim that I spoiled my ballot, request that my existing ballot be voided, and request a replacement ballot? Or is it already too late once the completed ballot has already been submitted?

  18. Answering my own question:
    There are only a handful of states that, by law, require that absentee ballots not be opened, processed, and counted until Election Day. Unfortunately, Ohio is not one of those states. This means that absentee ballots will be opened, processed, and counted before Election Day. Once the vote has actually been counted, it is obviously too late to withdraw it. So, it looks like I am stuck with my protest vote, regardless of how Jill Stein’s case turns out. (To be clear, I only would have considered changing my vote if there is a ruling in Jill Stein’s favor before the election. Waiting until after the election is already over before ruling that the Jill Stein votes will actually count would make it kind of a moot point.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.