Slate has this essay on how election officials handle write-in votes, when the voter spells the candidate’s name incorrectly. The article was prompted by the interest in write-in votes caused when U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski declared she will be a write-in candidate for re-election. Thanks to Henry Hirose for the link.
The principle that the voter’s intent should control is an old one, that has been promulgated by courts in the United States for over a century.
On September 17, an Illinois gubernatorial poll was released by We Ask America. This poll asks voters about all five ballot-listed candidates. The results: Republican Bill Brady 41.95%, Democrat Pat Quinn 32.43%, independent Scott Lee Cohen 5.06%, Green Party nominee Richard Whitney 3.54%, Libertarian Lex Green 1.65%, undecided 15.57%.
The poll also breaks down voter support according to the voter’s party affiliation. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
Only two independent candidates appear on the Minnesota November 2010 ballot for State House of Representatives. It is has been discovered that one of them, Al Hein, running in the 31B district, was accidentally put on the ballot even though he did not file any petition. See this story. The 31B district is in southeastern Minnesota. UPDATE: see this story about the problem, published on September 21.
Very few candidates qualify as independent candidates for the Minnesota legislature, because the 500 petition requirement is rather steep. The requirement amounts to approximately 2.5% of the last vote cast, and all signatures must be gathered within two weeks. When Hein came in to file, his county election administrators did not know he needed a petition. Candidates running in party primaries in Minnesota need no petition. So, he was put on the ballot with just a filing fee and a declaration of candidacy, and now the ballots have already been printed.
The 31B district was one of the closest legislative races in Minnesota in 2008. The Republican nominee polled 51.05% and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nominee polled 48.95%.
Minnesota does not have registration by party. However, Hein was the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nominee for that same legislative seat in 2000 and 2002, and he ran in the DFL primary for that same seat, without winning the nomination, in 1998.
See this story, describing U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski’s announcement on the evening of September 17 that she will be a write-in candidate.
On September 17, a U.S. District Court judge in Michigan refused to issue an injunction, telling election officials to put the recall of the Mayor of Flint on the ballot. See this story. The issue is whether there are enough valid signatures on the petition. The case will continue, and if the court finally agrees that there were enough valid signatures, the recall would be on the ballot in a future election.
