As voters head to the polls Tuesday, some may be thinking beyond the names printed on their ballots. Write-in candidates — those whose names must be physically written in by voters — have influenced close races before and could do so again this year.
“Even though they are not printed on the ballot, they’re going to contest the office anyway,” said Jacob Neiheisel, associate professor of political science at the University at Buffalo and an expert on political communication and elections.
Neiheisel said many voters use write-ins symbolically.
“We think of them sometimes as protest votes,” he said. “Somebody doesn’t like their options, and in most places there’s no ‘none of the above’ option. So they just write in a friend, a neighbor — Mickey Mouse isn’t all that unusual.”
But sometimes, write-ins are part of serious, well-funded campaigns.
“It’s rare, but write-ins do win,” he said.
When Write-ins Can Compete
Neiheisel pointed to a recent example in Buffalo. Then-Mayor Byron Brown lost a primary but campaigned as a write-in — and won.
“He had a lot of money, a lot of airtime,” Neiheisel said. “Couple that with the fact that he’d already served four terms as mayor — name recognition and resources really helped him out.”
Successful write-in candidates are usually established figures who have held office before and can run competitive campaigns even without ballot placement, he said.
The Communication Hurdle
Getting voters to remember and correctly write a name is a major challenge.
“It’s really, really hard,” Neiheisel said. “You have to come up with clever slogans.”
In Brown’s case, his campaign encouraged voters to “write down Byron Brown” — a phrase that “just rolls off the tongue,” he said.
New York also allows voters to use rubber stamps in the booth to enter a candidate’s name — though stickers are banned because they can jam voting machines.
“There was a challenge to it here, but it was ultimately allowed,” Neiheisel said.
Strengthening Democracy — or Risking Confusion?
Neiheisel said the option can empower voters who want to register dissatisfaction — but it comes with risks.
“There almost certainly will be people whose votes are not counted because they were confused about the process,” he said.
In New York, voters must fill in the write-in bubble and write the name legibly.
“If you misspell the name, if you write outside the lines, you risk your vote not being counted,” he said.
Still, he noted that unlike Nevada — which has a “none of the above” option — most voters nationwide lack a formal protest mechanism. Write-ins are “the closest we can get to participating, but also showcasing that we don’t like the options in front of us.”
Could Rules Change?
Major parties generally don’t see write-ins as a threat, Neiheisel said — at least not yet.
“In most cases it’s a few scattered votes here and there,” he said. “If it got to be something where independent candidates were continually contesting as write-ins and having even more success, that’s something they could look at curbing.”
Some states already restrict candidates who lose primaries from running again as independents — so-called “sore loser” laws. New York does not have one.
“But if write-ins became a bigger deal, that’s certainly something the parties would look into,” Neiheisel said.
Eyes on New York City
Neiheisel said the mayoral race in New York City — where Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who lost the primary is now running as an independent — underscores why those laws exist.
“The party doesn’t like challenges to its ability to be the gatekeeper,” he said. “It dilutes the brand and makes things more confusing and difficult for voters.”
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