So I went in for early voting last week, and on the ballot I saw that someone was running unopposed for the office of Ft. Bend County Sheriff. I don't remember the name, but that's not important. Anyway, I had the option to write in a candidate and I took full advantage of it. CHUCK HAYES. I'm asking for those of you in Ft. Bend who haven't voted yet, to write in Chuck's name for Sheriff. I don't expect any real results, I just think it would be funny for a good number of write-ins to be for Chuck. Long story short: The guy running unopposed is going to win anyway, so why not vote for The Chuck Wagon.
You never know, I recently read that there were zero total votes in some small town election. Not even the candidates themselves voted. So maybe Chuck has a chance! Of course, I have no idea how big Ft. Bend County is.
It's not the candidate's fault they are running unopposed. My point is that if you have a serious choice for a write-in candidate that is qualified and interested, by all means, write him/her in, but don't write in names just for a laugh.
Seriously, if anyone writes in "chuck hayes" or "mickey mouse" this is a complete mockery of this country!
Yeah, probably not the candidate's fault (unless he pulled an Obama and got all others forced off the ballot by challenging the validity of the signatures they collected). But, it still doesn't make it a serious choice. There is only one name so that person will get that job unless something extraordinary happens. It's a shame, I think, and a mockery to present an uncontested election. So, what's the harm in a joke vote that trully won't matter -- that won't even be counted -- in a sham of an election? If this was the USSR and we were voting for Secretary General with only the name Josef Stalin on the ballot, would it have been an insult to the solemnity of your voting rights to write Chuck Hayes instead? (Granted, it may be bad for your health.)
I'm just of the mindset that voting is a serious responsibility. If one is against uncontested elections, work to change the system rather than make a mocking vote. Work to encourage qualified candidates to run. Writing in "Chuck Hayes" does absolutely nothing for the election process. Many times, the uncontested candidate has done a very good job while in office and deserves the vote. If you are against the candidate and there is no opponent and no viable write-in candidate, simply refuse to vote for that particular race. Another thing is that voters should familiarize themselves with the ballot and candidates in their precinct. Don't just go in and "flip a coin" or vote a straight ticket without performing some due diligence. Elections don't sneak up on any of us and with all the available information via non-paritson web sites, we have ample opportunity to be prepared. It is also important to understand what a "blank" vote means. When people are involved, it generally means nothing, but when amendments are involved, it generally means "No". My opinion.
I would suggest that prior to the election folks perform some due diligence regarding each race. If there is a viable write-in candidate, vote for him/her. If the person is running unopposed with no viable write-in, then leave that race blank since the blank vote will be counted in a sense and the "Chuck Hayes" vote won't. In a subsequent election, an opponent could say, "although my opponent was running unopposed, of the X number of people that voted in that election, only X-"blank votes" voted for him. A "Chuck Hayes" vote may not be counted the same as a "blank" vote. Also, a joke vote may not be (and should not be) taken seriously, while a "blank" vote may.
1. I believe joke votes are counted as blank in Texas since they don't count votes for people who didn't previously register with them. 2. I agree on due diligence, and I think I'll take a gander at the ballot today. 3. More generally, if voting is our civic responsibility, we should each decide how we will execute it. Considering the import of our voting decision, there are people I think are too stupid to entrust this decision to. But, we all get to vote with whatever wisdom and education we're blessed with and must be free to do with it what we like for the democratic process to be legitimate. So to that end, though I don't live in Fort Bend, I will be writing in "bobrek" on all the uncontested seats on the ballot this year.
