For Write-In Candidate, Name Must Be Handwritten On Ballot By Voters To Count

With State Senator Marilyn Moore waging an insurgent write-in candidacy for mayor after losing a close primary to Mayor Joe Ganim, speculation has centered on Moore’s campaign handing out stickers or stamps to voters, in lieu of electors handwriting the name. Is it allowed?

“No, the name must be written on the ballot by the voter,” according to Gabe Rosenberg, spokesperson for the Connecticut Secretary of the State (SOTS), who consulted with a staff attorney about the supposition.

Last week Ted Bromley, a SOTS staff attorney, explained how the write-in process works during a forum at the Bridgeport Public Library. He told the group that MM would suffice as a vote for Moore because it satisfies the intent of the voter. But what if you have two write-in candidates with the initials MM? The intent would be uncertain.

Campaign operatives for both Moore and Ganim contemplated the possibility of Moore making it easier for voters to cast a ballot for her via a name sticker or a stamp presented in advance or in front of polling places. Talk about sticker shock.

Moore lacks a name ballot position in November after her campaign failed to file the necessary petition signatures to appear on the Connecticut Working Families Party line.

This is uncharted territory for a general election mayoral race. Write-in candidacies require an enormous educational outreach to voters, but the Ganim campaign operation is not taking her effort lightly after she won the machine count September 10 ousted by absentee ballots.

The bottom of the November 5th ballot will include a row for write-in candidates. Electors must fill in the circle for write-in, then write Moore’s name on the ballot, or a variation of it that represents the voter’s intent. The optical scanner voting machines are coded so that write-in ballots filled out are separated from the rest of the ballots and then hand-counted by elections officials.

“In a write-in candidacy, the tabulator automatically sorts ballots that have the write-in bubble filled in into a special container so that the write-in votes can be hand-counted at the end of Election Day,” says  Rosenberg. “All ballots where the voter’s intent to vote for a registered write-in candidate is clear should be counted.”

It’s a two-step process requiring voters to fill in the oval on the write-in line and then writing in the candidate’s name or some variation.