Does your vote count?
If you plan on writing in the name of “Mickey Mouse”, Bernie Sanders, or Tom hanks on the write- in line of your ballot, you very well could be wasting your time. Your vote will not be counted.
That’s not to say that Mickey Mouse isn’t a popular option, nor that Tom Hanks might be a better President than the other candidates in 2016. Of any candidate over the past 80 years, Mickey is probably the most popular. However, state laws, require that a candidate be registered with the Secretary of State’s office, so we may never know how many votes he’s ever actually had.
Denise Merrill’s office released a list of 20 eligible names for write-in votes last week. State law says that voters can write in the pair of President and Vice President candidates, or simply just write in the name of the Presidential candidate in the write-in space provided on your ballot. Either will count for a vote for the candidate ticket specified by the voter.
Click HERE for the list of eligible write-in candidates
Have trouble spelling your candidate’s name? No problem, as long as the spelling errors are minor and the election worker would understand the intent of the voter. But, it still helps to write the name on a piece of paper to take with you to the polls, especially in case two eligible names might be similar. You don’t want to write “McCain” when you intend “McMullin”. Oh, and make sure your handwriting is legible!
Learn about some of the local write-in candidates for President
There’s another qualification for write-in votes