[EL] Question About Legal Status of Primary Write-In Candidates

[Richard Winger]

Almost every state that permits write-ins in partisan primaries has a requirement that the write-in candidate poll a certain number of write-in votes, in order to be considered nominated and eligible to run in November.  I have a very outdated list of those laws.
Arizona's threshold for write-in nominations was struck down by a US District Court in 1980 in Socialist Workers Party v Mofford (not reported) so write-in candidates who are members of parties that are "new" (i.e., just qualified in that election year or the previous election year) only need one write-in (assuming no one else got any write-in votes for the same seat).  But members of parties that have been qualified continuously need a large number of write-ins.  The Libertarian Party is in the 9th circuit now over that.
In California, someone who comes in 2nd in the primary, using write-in votes, can be on the general election ballot with just a single write-in, assuming no one else gets any write-ins.  Legislators don't like that and a constitutional amendment to require at least 40 write-ins is pending in the Senate.  ACA 21.
Colorado requires the write-in candidate to poll the same number of write-ins as the number of signatures that would have been required to get a candidate on the primary ballot.
Delaware has no minimum number of write-ins to get a nomination.
Idaho is the same as Colorado.
Iowa requires a number of write-ins equal to 35% of the past primary vote for that party for that office.
Kansas requires a number of write-ins equal to 10% of that party's past primary vote for that party for that office.
Maine requires twice as many write-ins as the number of signatures needed to get on that party's primary ballot for that office.
Massachusetts is like Colorado.
Michigan is like Iowa, but it is 15%.
Montana requires a number of write-ins equal to 5% of the total vote for the winner for that office from the last general election.
Nebraska requires a number of write-ins equal to 5% of the total primary vote for that office that year.
New Hampshire requires a number of write-ins equal to the lesser of 10% of the primary vote in that party's primary for that office, or 10, whichever is less.
New Jersey is like Colorado.
New Mexico is like Colorado.
New York lets a write-in winner be nominated with just one vote.  But New York won't count write-ins in primaries unless a petition has been filed in advance (which doesn't mention any particular candidate) called an "opportunity to vote" petition, asking that write-ins in that particular primary for that particular office be counted.
North Dakota is like Colorado.
Ohio is like Colorado.
Oregon has no minimum number of write-ins needed.
Pennsylvania is like Colorado.
Rhode Island has no minimum number of write-ins needed.
Tennessee's write-in threshold is 5% of the number of votes cast in that district in that party's primary.
Vermont's write-in threshold is half of the number of signatures that would have been needed to get on the primary ballot.
Washington law is in transition.  A bill on this subject was signed this month.
Wisconsin's minimum is the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot but it must also be as great as 5% of that party's vote for Governor in the last general election in that district.
Wyoming has no minimum.
These laws relate to write-ins who have no ballot-listed opponent.  Generally if there is a ballot-listed opponent in the primary and the write-in candidate gets more votes than the ballot-listed candidate, the write-in winner is nominated regardless of the statutory nomination.
I compiled this list years ago and in some states the law has probably changed since then.  States not mentioned don't permit write-ins in primaries.
 Richard Winger 415-922-9779 PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

      From: Carl Klarner <carl.klarner at gmail.com>
 To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu 
 Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2018 3:28 AM
 Subject: [EL] Question About Legal Status of Primary Write-In Candidates
   
Hi All,

Does anyone know of a good source regarding state laws pertaining to
write-in candidates in primary elections?  A compendium of state laws
would be great, but I understand such a list probably doesn't exist.

What I need to know is, if a primary is otherwise uncontested, and a
write-in is running, do they then go on to the general election to
represent that party?  This appears to vary by state.

Thanks,

Carl

-- 
Dr. Carl Klarner

Academic / Political Consultant

Department of Political Science

University of Florida, Gainesville

Klarnerpolitics.com

Former Associate Professor of Political Science

Carl.Klarner at gmail.com

Cell: 812-514-9060
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