Writing in candidates - know your state's rules
I just checked my state's rules to write in Bernie if Shrillary somehow manages to pick up the presidential nomination instead of him. In Michigan, according to the official "Election Officials' Manual", "An individual who wishes to seek nomination or election to a federal, state, county, city, township, village or school office with write-in votes is required to file a “Declaration of Intent” with the appropriate election official by 4:00 p.m. on the second Friday preceding the election". If the candidate has not filed this document, our write-in votes for Bernie here in Michigan will NOT count. Maybe the Sanders campaign has already filed the appropriate documents in all the states just in case, but I thought this was something people should be aware of if they're planning to vote for Bernie in the general election if doesn't get the Democratic nomination.
Comments
write ins
Yes, I think I saw something similar for Colorado. A person has to more or less apply to be a write in candidate. If they're not an official write in candidate, the votes don't count.
I doubt the Sanders campaign has made him eligible for this, but I sure don't know.
Since they will not be counted, they won't be reported, so there would be no reporting of the number of write ins for Bernie.
This makes me tend toward voting Green if Bernie is not on the ballot, but right now I am planning on him being on the ballot.
The first step is for
everyone to check the rules in their own state. For those states that need "permission" we will need to contact the campaign after July (if necessary) to request that Sanders gets the paperwork filled out.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Pretty much the same in Virginia.
At least, for POTUS and Veep.
Agreed on planning for Bernie being on the ballot, but Green looks like a viable alternative.
i have read a comment either here or Reddit...
...that said if they write in a candidate that has not declared as a write-in then it invalidates the entire ballot. i don't know how accurate that information is and i don't remember what state. it doesn't seem right that the entire ballot would be invalidated so folks need to be careful here. if you don't know with certainty then maybe Green would be the way to go as a protest vote.
as for CA, i have only been able to find information regarding write-in candidates in the primary. they do have to be declared as a write-in candidate for the primary. i don't know about the general election.
Thank you for this!
It was on my to-do list. Now I can scratch it off. = )
After July, if necessary, we will need to send a message to Sanders to do this for us citing that otherwise we will be disenfranchised.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
I don't think he would do that.
vote Green
They should be on the ballot in every state. A bump in Green Party votes will be unmistakably understood by the establishment as complete rejection of their candidates. And it will start to strengthen multi-party participation in US politics.
If you don't know what you want, you deserve what you get.
August 2 seems to be the filing deadline
in NY for independents to file for Federal offices. From Ballotpedia
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