Voters for None of the Above Comment: In the article below Wake County's Elections Director, Cherie Poucher, says "...the most popular write-in, "none of the above."
Let them run, and let us vote
North Carolinians are stubborn about democracy. That may be why
we have some counties that still elect coroners, and why we elect more
state officers than 48 other states. Research
from the nonpartisan N.C. Center for Voter Education shows that even
though many North Carolina voters can't tell you who they are voting
for in certain races, they still want the right to cast a ballot for
those offices.
Should we continue to elect important state officers if more people can name last year's American Idol winner than the men and women they voted into office? Most voters stubbornly say, "Of course!"
I
had a friend in college who was so steadfast about his right to vote
for the candidate of his choice that it did not matter if the person he
wanted to vote for was on the ballot or not - he would write the name
in anyway.
Should people be able to vote for anyone they want?
Should they be able to write in any candidate, announced or
unannounced? Where do you draw the line?
Wake County's nonpartisan
municipal elections require write-in lines on the ballot for each
office listed. Cherie Poucher, the county's elections director, says
that every year there are votes for cartoon characters, people who vote
for themselves, and the most popular write-in, "none of the above."
Elections are expensive, but adding a few candidates to the ballot is not a significant increase in their cost, says Poucher.
Though
taken to an extreme, such as the California gubernatorial recall with
its long list of candidates ranging from adult film stars to Gary
Coleman, few counties could afford that kind of free-for-all.
But
how restrictive can we be about who gets on the ballot and still claim
that we are a free democracy? Where is the line between counting votes
for Mickey and Goofy and setting up unfair hurdles for legitimate
candidates?
That question was debated last week by the state legislature.
The N.C. Open Elections Coalition seeks to change the law to make it easier for new parties to get on the ballot.
Current
state law says that for a new party to get on the ballot, it needs to
collect signatures from a number of state voters equal to 2 percent of
the votes cast for governor in the last general election. That means
70,000 names, based on the 2004 results.
To stay on the ballot and
not have to go through the whole qualifying process again, a party's
nominee for governor or president must receive at least 10 percent of
the vote, or about 350,000 votes.
Ross Perot's presidential bid
garnered about 6.8 percent for the Reform Party in 1992, and Scott
McLaughlin, the Libertarian candidate for governor that year, received
just over 4 percent. The most recent Libertarian gubernatorial
candidate claimed under 2 percent.
House Bill 88, the Electoral Fairness Act, passed in the N.C. Senate.
But
according to many of its original supporters, the measure has been
changed to do little to help citizens who want to vote for a newly
formed party.
The bill makes it easier for a new party to stay on
the ballot if they qualify to get on it in the first place. But getting
onto the ballot? Those requirements haven't changed.
Brian Irving, a
Libertarian, says, "In terms of democratic access to the ballot, North
Carolina and Alabama rank at the very bottom."
Republican Senate
Minority Leader Phil Berger led the effort to lower the number of names
needed to get on the ballot, but his amendment was defeated.
People
are stubborn about voting. The Open Elections Coalition tried to go
through the legislative process to get what it wanted, but came up
short. Its next stop may be the courts.
A lawsuit has been brought
against the state Board of Elections, alleging that the ballot access
requirements are a breach of the state's constitutional guarantee of
free elections.
Should people be given the opportunity to vote for
whichever parties or candidates they want? What is a reasonable test of
support? Let us know.
Chris Heagarty is the executive director of
the N.C. Center for Voter Education, a Raleigh-based organization
pushing for changes in the election process.