Pa. writes off write-in candidates

    

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By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, October 17, 2004

Do not bother to write in a vote for a presidential candidate in Pennsylvania on Nov. 2. The commonwealth's system of handling such votes is so hideous, it confuses, misleads and disenfranchises voters.

It is so dysfunctional that, for your write-in vote to be counted properly, you must not write-in the name of your candidate.

Scandalous.

And it might be a factor on Election Day if George Bush or John Kerry needs a reason to challenge the legitimacy of the election here.

The Pennsylvania Department of State oversees elections. It knows it is almost impossible to cast a legitimate presidential write-in vote. But it simply passes the buck to county elections officials who usually are clueless about the write-in rules.

This presidential write-in issue is the 2,000-pound elephant in the living room, according to V. Kurt Bellman, Berks County's director of elections.

I spoke with election officials from 12 counties across the Keystone State. Most did not know if presidential write-in votes would be counted officially, and if so, how. Their abysmal ignorance of write-in rules is why few had enough ballot space for presidential write-in votes. And when I called the state's Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation, no one cared.

Pennsylvania is the only large or medium-size state that does not have an orderly process for tallying write-in votes, says Richard Winger, publisher of Ballot Access News. He has been monitoring ballot issues nationally for decades. "America holds itself out as a model for free elections. As long as we are trying to influence the rest of world, we should clean up our own house."

When Americans vote for presidential candidates, they really are voting for the candidates' electors. The winner's electors then cast votes for their candidate when the Electoral College convenes in December to make the win official.

Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania rules change for write-in votes.

Let's use Ralph Nader as an example. An independent presidential candidate, Nader was kicked off the state ballot by Commonwealth Court. If it is upheld, he could become the poster boy for curing the state's write-in system. If Nader runs as a write-in candidate, it would be farce. Virtually no "Nader" vote would count, even if he receives more than 100,000 votes, as he did from Pennsylvanians in 2000 as the Green Party candidate.

To actually vote for Nader, you must write in the names of his 21 electors and spell them correctly, according to the state. If you only write your candidate's name, you only are voting for one elector. Your vote would be worth 1/21 of one for Bush or Kerry.

But if the elector is not a Pennsylvania citizen he could not hold that office, so even that vote essentially would not count. Sadly, few voters even know those rules and the state's on-line voting instruction guide does not mention them.

State elections officials have authorized seven voting systems, including machines that the state knew could not handle multiple write-ins, but certified them anyway, according to Bellman, the Berk's County elections boss.

What are the ramifications?

"These are the kinds of questions that occur to us in the middle of the night," he said.

But Monna Accurti, the state election bureau's commissioner, is not losing sleep over it. She admitted that write-in votes might count in some counties but not in others. "You would need to check with the counties about that."

OK.

The Dauphin County electronic voting machines only have a 2 inch-by-3/4-inch space for a write-in vote, says Steve Chiavetta, the director of elections. He was not sure if a write-in vote counts for 21 electors. (It does not.) "I would clear that with the Department of State," he said.

Larry Spahr, the Washington County director, was quite sure.

And quite wrong.

"Yes, it would count for his 21 electors," Spahr said.

A few elections directors actually think write-in votes only will be counted if they total more than a certain statewide number.

But that rule only applies for primary elections.

Regis L. Young, Butler County director of elections, knows the write-in rules and made sure his punch-card voting system has room for 21 names.

"About 99.9 percent of the people doing write-ins for electors only will write in one name," he said.

A simple solution for the scandalous mess is right next door.

If a write-in candidate in Ohio files a declaration of write-in, every vote must be counted, according to the Ohio secretary of state.

And voters do not have to write in the name of any presidential elector.

Pedro A. Cortez, Pennsylvania's secretary of the commonwealth, was too busy promoting his "Ready, Set, Vote" campaign to be interviewed about the presidential write-in problem.

But Cortez boasts in a news release, "I would like to encourage Pennsylvanians to participate fully in our democracy and register to vote. This is our most cherished right of citizenship."

If you don't mind your cherished write-in vote not being counted.

Cortez's department Internet site says who is responsible for this presidential write-in system only a banana republic could love.

"Under the leadership of the Secretary of the Commonwealth,the mission of the Department of State is to promote the integrity of the electoral process ... ."