At the April 7 election for Wisconsin local offices, six of the fifteen winners to the Iron County Board of Supervisors were write-in candidates. See this story.
At the April 7 election for Wisconsin local offices, six of the fifteen winners to the Iron County Board of Supervisors were write-in candidates. See this story.
Literacy is declining, at an accelerating rate, especially among the younger generations.
Therefore, writing in will become increasingly discriminatory over time. Written or printed ballots as well, but less so, since writing correctly and legibly is even harder than reading.
Iron County is a small county, with a relative large board of supervisors. Wisconsin used to elect one supervisor for each town (township in other states). The town supervisors also formed a collective board for the county. It was somewhat analogous to as if the Senate was comprised of the governors of the 50 States. This resulted in gross malapportionment. So they switched to district election of county supervisors. Town supervisors still exist and have actual duties. The counties were permitted to set the size of their county board, but there might be a reluctance to vote a supervisor out of an office, inertia, and concern that rural towns would lose representation. Iron County has a county manager who actually does administration. The board just meets monthly to provide some oversight. Running for supervisor requires a petition with 20 signatures. It might not be worth the effort.
Why don’t they just make people chisel their write in votes on clay tablets with a chisel?