What is a write-in candidate?
A write-in candidate is someone who’s name does not appear on the ballot paper in an election, so a voter simply writes the name of their candidate on the ballot paper. It’s not allowed everywhere though, for example in the US 34 states require the candidate to file paperwork before the election and 9 states don’t allow it at all.
Why do it all?
There are almost as many reasons as there are voters but the most common reason is a protest vote, a vote against the system or against all named candidates. This form of protest vote often gets more media attention and is actually counted.
Some people write in a name just for a joke and some people are just being stupid, here are my favourite examples…
- Picoazá, Equador 1967. During the town’s mayoral election a pharmaceutical company ran a series of campaign-themed adverts for their foot powder called Pulvapies. Some of the slogans used included “Vote for any candidate, but if you want well-being and hygiene, vote for Pulvapies”, and “For Mayor: Honorable Pulvapies”. The foot powder Pulvapies ended up receiving the most votes in the election. We don’t know how they ended sorting it out but in the immediate aftermath the unsuccessful candidates threatened to sue the company.
- Sweden, 2010. In Sweden the write in ballots are scanned and read by computer and several people tried to hand-write code snippets to attempt an injection attack on the voting machines. Luckily for Sweden none of them were successful!
- Egypt, 2018. In the 2018 presidential election many candidates were arrested or barred from running, as a result lots of people used their vote to protest, and most of them had the same name in mind. Footballer Mohamed ‘Mo’ Salah received over a million votes, more than the second place candidate. Write-in votes do not count in Egypt so Mo continues to play football not politics.
Whether you vote for Harambe, Donald Duck or ‘); DROP TABLE Votes;-? the important thing is you always exercise your rights and VOTE!
Photo credit Element5 Digital
