With all of the discussion about invoking the 14th Amendment to prevent TFG from appearing on the ballots, I have been seeing a lot of commenters suggest that his supporters could still get him back in office via write-in campaigns. This is essentially impossible, even if the MAGAheads were able to operate an organized enough effort to make that happen (think about it … they’re not smart enough to do that), in most states there are legal obstacles that would prevent those votes from counting.
If I may, let me cite a few examples and then maybe we can stop worrying about it:
- In California, the Secretary of State certifies a list of those candidates who have qualified as write-in candidates 15 days prior to the election. As a sample, here is the list from the 2016 Presidential election.
- In Georgia, write-in candidates must meet the same qualifications as any other candidate, and the write-in process is not applicable to primary ballots.
- In Delaware, write-in candidates must declare by September 30 in the year of the election and must “meet the qualifications for the office for which they file”.
- Vermont has the most onerous requirement that Trump supporters could face: 17 V.S.A. § 2370 says that a write-in candidate “shall not qualify as a primary winner unless he or she receives at least one-half the number of votes as the number of signatures required for his or her office on a primary petition” unless they get more votes than any candidate who appears on the printed ballot.
- Kentucky is another state that only allows write-ins for general elections, not for the primary, and pre-filing (with a fee) is required.
- Nebraska statute 32-615 requires a notarized statement and fee no later than the second Friday prior to the election.
- Utah has a similar provision, no later than 65 days before the election, as state code 20A-9-601.
- Maryland’s rules are the ones that disqualify Trump even before a write-in campaign could start: “[I]f the write-in candidate or the authorized candidate campaign committee makes expenditures that are equal to or greater than $51 in the promotion of the candidate, then the Certificate of Candidacy must be filed no later than 7 days after the $51 threshold is exceeded.”
Had enough examples?