Homeless in Arizona

I think "Micky Mouse" is the best qualified candidate for the office even if he isn't on the ballot.

I have never heard of "Micky Mouse" taking bribes, violating peoples constitutional rights, or sponsoring pork bills.

When I write in my vote for "Micky Mouse" the only thing that annoys me is that he doesn't win.

I would love it if all the ballots had "None of the Above" on them, and if "None of the Above" won the election the office would remain unfilled for that the next term. That would be a great way to get better government.

Last but not least people don't know that the election system is rigged and write in votes never count, unless the "write in candidate" jumps thru all the same hoops at a "regular candidate" who is on the ballot has to jump thru. And that means the "write in candidate" must get the same number of signatures that a regular candidate" is required to get.

I suspect the politicians made the system that way because they didn't want the people to choose a "write in candidate" when they had two normal candidates who were lousy choices, like it usually is.

Here is a short snip of 20 rules in ARS 16-312 which defines the rules for write in candidates.

16-312. Filing of nomination papers for write-in candidates

A. Any person desiring to become a write-in candidate for an elective office in any election shall file a nomination paper, signed by the candidate, giving the person's actual residence address or description of place of residence and post office address, age, length of residence in the state and date of birth.

SNIP

Any person who does not file a timely nomination paper shall not be counted in the tally of ballots.

SNIP

Source

Fake write-in votes cost the county

By Michelle Ye Hee Lee The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:26 PM

If some voters had their way, Mickey Mouse would be an Arizona senator. And U.S. president. And a mayor. And on every local school board. Donald Duck, a close runner-up for all those races, likely would concede.

Mickey has always been the front-runner among fake write-in candidates. Superheroes from Marvel comics are popular, too, along with other characters from box-office favorites around election time. Some voters write in their names, or names of friends or family members. Others go on rants about politics on the write-in line.

While some may find it funny, Maricopa County elections officials aren’t laughing.

Every write-in entry must be verified with the list of legitimate write-in candidates for that election, by a three-member review team. In the August primary election, Maricopa County elections officials saw the biggest ratio of fake-to-legitimate write-in candidates in recent memory: Among 90,433 entries in write-in slots, 1,738 were votes for legitimate write-in candidates.

Each fake entry cost Arizona counties money and manpower and slowed down the tabulation process, said Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell, who oversees elections.

“They think they’re making some kind of a statement or being cute,” Purcell said. “The issue is what it costs us, and ultimately costs them, because the taxpayers are paying for the election. But in staff time that we have to put in, this primary election was the worst we’ve seen.”

This primary election’s high volume of write-in candidates required the county to hire additional temporary elections staff to verify write-in candidates and work overtime to tabulate the results within the mandatory period, Purcell said.

With nearly 2 million registered voters in the state’s largest county, Maricopa County elections staff has seen it all. “None of the above” is a popular entry, and so are expletives.

This primary election, there were Democrats voting on the Democratic ticket for Republican Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Republican voters writing “anyone but Arpaio” on the Republican ticket.

A list of authorized write-in candidates for specific offices is available at polling places. Only the names that are approved for a particular office are counted. The list is not available for early voters because it is not finalized before early ballots are mailed out. That means it is up to candidates to reach out to early voters, Purcell said.

County elections officials want voters to think twice before voting for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Batman or themselves.

“It slows down the process. It certainly is more costly. And it could negate some of the votes that were already cast because they might vote twice,” Purcell said.

ARS 16-312 - Rules for write in candidates

These silly rules are defined in ARS 16-312 and I have include a copy of them here.

ARS 16-312 - Rules for write in candidates

A. Any person desiring to become a write-in candidate for an elective office in any election shall file a nomination paper, signed by the candidate, giving the person's actual residence address or description of place of residence and post office address, age, length of residence in the state and date of birth.

B. A write-in candidate shall file the nomination paper not later than 5:00 p.m. on the fortieth day before the election, except that:

1. A candidate running as a write-in candidate as provided in section 16-343, subsection D shall file the nomination paper not later than 5:00 p.m. on the fifth day before the election.

2. A candidate running as a write-in candidate for an election that may be canceled pursuant to section 16-410 shall file the nomination paper not later than 5:00 p.m. on the seventy-sixth day before the election.

C. The write-in filing procedure shall be in the same manner as prescribed in section 16-311. Any person who does not file a timely nomination paper shall not be counted in the tally of ballots. The filing officer shall not accept the nomination paper of a candidate for state or local office unless the candidate provides or has provided both of the following:

1. A political committee statement of organization or the five hundred dollar threshold exemption statement for that office.

2. The financial disclosure statement as prescribed for candidates for that office.

D. Except in cases where the liability is being appealed, the filing officer shall not accept the nomination paper of a write-in candidate for state or local office if the person is liable for an aggregation of one thousand dollars or more in fines, penalties, late fees or administrative or civil judgments, including any interest or costs, in any combination, that have not been fully satisfied at the time of the attempted filing of the nomination paper and the liability arose from failure to comply with or enforcement of chapter 6 of this title.

E. The secretary of state shall notify the various boards of supervisors as to write-in candidates filing with the secretary of state's office. The county school superintendent shall notify the appropriate board of supervisors as to write-in candidates filing with the superintendent's office. The board of supervisors shall notify the appropriate election board inspector of all candidates who have properly filed such statements. In the case of a city or town election, the city or town clerk shall notify the appropriate election board inspector of candidates properly filed. No other write-ins shall be counted. The election board inspector shall post the notice of official write-in candidates in a conspicuous location within the polling place.

F. Except as provided in section 16-343, subsection E, a candidate may not file pursuant to this section if any of the following applies:

1. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate ran in the immediately preceding primary election and failed to be nominated to the office sought in the current election.

2. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for the immediately preceding primary election for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-322.

3. For a candidate in the primary election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for the current primary election for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-322.

4. For a candidate in the general election, the candidate filed a nomination petition for nomination other than by primary for the office sought and failed to provide a sufficient number of valid petition signatures as prescribed by section 16-341.

G. A person who files a nomination paper pursuant to this section for the office of president of the United States shall designate in writing to the secretary of state at the time of filing the name of the candidate's vice-presidential running mate, the names of presidential electors who will represent that candidate and a statement signed by the vice-presidential running mate and designated presidential electors that indicates their consent to be designated. A nomination paper for each presidential elector designated shall be filed with the candidate's nomination paper. The number of presidential electors shall equal the number of United States senators and representatives in Congress from this state.