Votes for
dead, drawn, distinguished
Upset voters cast write-in ballots for Elvis, Minnie Mouse and Bear Bryant

By Holly Hollman
hhollman@decaturdaily.com · 340-2445

ATHENS — Charles Barkley for sheriff! Elect Bear Bryant your representative! Send Elvis Presley to the Statehouse!

Limestone voters didn't see those campaign signs in the Nov. 7 general election. Nonetheless, these celebrities got write-in votes, even though two of them are dead.

Even cartoon characters like Minnie Mouse got votes.

Probate Judge Mike Davis said frivolous write-ins delay returns on election night and certifying the results.

When a voter writes in a name on the ballot, the scanning machine automatically puts that ballot in a separate container. When the polls close, poll workers have to record every write-in vote before sending the returns to Davis.

Legally, they can discard votes for cartoon characters, Davis said.

After the election, Davis’ office must certify each write-in vote and note how many write-ins came from each polling location, and record the names.

For example, Davis’ office noted that former Ten Commandments judge Roy Moore, who unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary for governor, got one vote for attorney general at the Ardmore Town Hall box.

Athens State University political science professor Jess Brown said voter frustration or lack of interest in a race is the main reasons for write-ins.

“It could be they’re not convinced the candidates listed are qualified, or they don’t view it as an important office,” he said. “On rare occasions, they may really think the person they are writing in is the person who best qualifies for the job.”

Brown said even if a person writes in Minnie Mouse, that could be a way of expressing disgust with the candidates listed.

“They may be saying Minnie Mouse is as qualified as those listed, and they write that in as an act of frustration,” Brown said.

“This would be more of a problem in local elections when the number of those voting shrinks, and each vote for the candidates listed is valuable.”

That could have been an issue for the District 6 school board race that was close enough that provisional ballots could have forced a recount.

Provisional ballots are challenged ballots. For example, if a voter says he is to vote at Johnson Elementary but isn’t on the voter list, he can vote, and then officials verify his address after the election.

There were three write-ins in the District 6 race, but they were frivolous and got discarded. Luckily, those wasted votes did not matter because there were not enough provisional ballots to require a recount.

None of the above

Brown said some of his political science students have suggested that ballots contain a “none of the above” choice as well as a write-in section.

“For example, if people felt that there was too much negative advertising in the Orr/Day race, they could have said, ‘We choose neither,’ ” Brown said.

“If there is a plurality who reject the listed candidates, my students suggested that there should be another election with new candidates. There are too many incumbents on ballots for that to be a welcomed suggestion.”

The negative race to which Brown referred was the Senate District 3 race between Democrat Bobby Day and Republican Arthur Orr.

Expenses for the race, which Orr won, surpassed the $1 million mark one week before the election.

Limestone Sheriff Mike Blakely, the Democratic incumbent, didn’t have opposition but there were 341 write-in votes in his race.

“I had friends, or should I say people I know, who joked about writing in someone else’s name,” Blakely said.

“I guess some people write in their own names and want that 15 minutes of fame they think they’re going to get if it’s read out loud at the courthouse, which it isn’t.”

Blakely said voters he has angered also probably wrote in someone else’s name.

“People I’ve arrested may have preferred writing someone else down,” Blakely said. “I doubt they were eager to vote for me.”

Write-ins

Among the write-ins were Athens Police Chief Wayne Harper, some of Blakely’s deputies and investigators, Andy Griffith and Charles Barkley.

Athens Mayor Dan Williams, who received one write-in vote for lieutenant governor, agreed with Brown and Blakely that when voters don’t like the choice listed, they write someone’s name.

“I heard one Democratic man say he couldn’t vote for the Republican, and there was no choice for Democrat, and he wouldn’t leave it blank, so he made a write-in,” Williams said.

When asked if his mother voted for him for lieutenant governor, Williams laughed and said it was “nobody that knew me.”

“I didn’t even know I got that vote,” Williams said, “but I wished it would have been a vote for governor. If I’m the top man in the city, I should be the top man in the state. If I had spent $4 million campaigning, I might have had a better showing.”

Williams, an Auburn fan, was appeased when told former Alabama coach Gene Stallings also got one write-in vote for lieutenant governor.

“Well, if he and I tied, I’m in fine company,” Williams said.