Missoula County supports HB 536: Revise laws related to write-in candidates, up for second reading on the House floor this afternoon. HB 536 would require all write-in candidates to file a declaration of intent in order for votes for them to be counted and reported to the Secretary of State. Under current statute, when no candidates have filed in a race in a primary election, counties are still required to count write-in votes for a candidate even if they did not file a declaration of intent as a write-in candidate. Counties must do this even though the candidate would only be eligible to move on to the general election if they received 5% of the vote. This is a very difficult threshold for a non-declared write-in candidate to reach.
Counting these votes is a time- and labor-intensive process that requires a three-person write-in board to manually review, confirm, tally and report each vote. The 2022 primary election for Missoula County required more than 250 man-hours to complete this process on the day before, day of and days following the election, for a total cost of around $3,000. This is despite the fact that this particular election included no declared write-in candidates. This bill would reduce the number of staff hours and associated costs currently required to review, confirm, tally and report write-in votes for candidates who did not file a declaration of intent to run. And for elections in which no candidates declared their intent to run, write-in boards would not be necessary at all.
This bill would not eliminate candidates’ ability to run as a write-in, but merely request that they file a declaration of intent if they would like to do so. This small change would help counties be better stewards of taxpayer dollars by eliminating costs spent on counting write-in votes for candidates who did not intend to run. It would also help reduce the administrative burden on election offices as they work to implement new election requirements.
Chair Cuffe, members of the committee, my name is Bradley Seaman (S-E-A-M-A-N) and I’m the elections administrator for Missoula County. I’m here representing Missoula County and the Montana Association of Clerks and Recorders. HB 536 would require all write-in candidates to file a declaration of intent in order for votes for them to be counted and reported to the Secretary of State. Under current statute, when no candidates have filed in a race in a primary election, counties are still required to count write-in votes for a candidate even if they did not file a declaration of intent as a write-in candidate. Counties must do this even though the candidate would only be eligible to move on to the general election if they received 5% of the vote. This is actually a very difficult threshold for a non-declared write-in candidate to reach, and I have yet to see this happen during my tenure. Counting these votes is a time- and labor-intensive process that requires a three-person write-in board to manually review, confirm, tally and report each vote. The 2022 primary election for Missoula County required more than 250 man-hours to complete this process on the day before, day of and days following the election, for a total cost of around $3,000. This is despite the fact that this particular election included no declared write-in candidates. This bill would reduce the number of staff hours and associated costs currently required to review, confirm, tally and report write-in votes for candidates who did not file a declaration of intent to run. And for elections in which no candidates declared their intent to run, write-in boards would not be necessary at all. This bill would not eliminate candidates’ ability to run as a write-in, but merely request that they file a declaration of intent if they would like to do so. This small change would help counties be better stewards of taxpayer dollars by eliminating costs spent on counting write-in votes for candidates who did not intend to run. It would also help reduce the administrative burden on election offices as they work to implement new election requirements. I would encourage you to vote “Do Pass” on this important legislation.
Currently, when there is a race on the ballot in a primary election for which no candidates filed to run, all write-in votes must be counted to confirm no candidate received at least 5% of the total voters for the last successful candidate at the general election. This happens regularly in counties in which voters vote heavily in favor of one party, and the other party does not field a candidate for an office. It also comes up more which one party does not run a candidate for and has come up more often through the additional participation of political parties. To complete this process, a three-person write-in board must confirm and tally each write-in vote. When the write-in board receives a ballot, they must review a ballot for the race where the voter marked the write-in oval. Then they must confirm if the vote is a valid write-in vote. The SOS provides instructions on this. There may either be a list of qualified write-in candidates and spellings, or an uncontested race in the primary election. For example, a voter may write “Mickey Mouse” in on all races on the ballot. However, “Mickey Mouse” would only be a valid write in vote for an uncontested race. If there was a valid candidate for the race they wrote in “Mickey Mouse”, the board would not count the write in vote. Ballots need to be manually reviewed under this process. After locating the race which has a valid write in vote, one judge reads the vote, and the other two judges record the name of the write in and a tally on a spreadsheet created for the write in votes. Both judges are keeping their own sheet. At the end of the evening, the judges must confirm their tallies match and sign off on all sheets. After the ballots have been tabulated, the write in votes must be combined from all tally sheets and manually entered into the states reporting software. After that is all completed, if a candidate had met the 5% requirement, they would be offered the nomination in the primary election. Most commonly, a candidate’s name is written in on the blank race for the candidate who filed and appears on the ballot for the other party. Voters are writing the name of the Republican party candidate on the Democratic party ballot or visa versa. What that means is that if there is an open race for County Commissioner on one party’s ballot, the candidate on the other party’s ballot is written in. If a candidate is successful in the other party’s primary election, they would have 10 days from the canvass to renounce their current affiliation and accept the nomination to the other party. This is extremely unlikely. This is the most common write in vote and the least likely outcome from this process. Counting write-in votes for open races is a labor intensive process which has not successfully elected a candidate in my tenure. In the 2022 Primary election, we utilized over 250 man-hours to accomplish this task on the day before, day of, and days following the election to complete this process. The total cost for this process was almost $3,000. The top write-in votes were for candidates printed on the other party ballot. While costs may vary from county to county based on number of voters, smaller counties may have an even harder time allocating funding to this process over other county needs. This bill would limit the number of staff hours and associated costs used confirming, tallying, and reporting write-in votes for candidates who did not file a declaration of intent to run. This bill would also not eliminate the ability of candidates to run as a write-in candidate, only request that candidates file a declaration of intent if they would like to do so. This small change has the ability to help counties better stewards of taxpayer dollars by eliminating costs on counting write-in votes for candidates who did not intend to run and helps reduce an administrative burden on election offices when there are multiple new requirements being added to their duties on election night. I would encourage you to vote “Do Pass” on this important legislation.
Sent 2/28:
ReplyDeleteRepresentatives,
Missoula County supports HB 536: Revise laws related to write-in candidates, up for second reading on the House floor this afternoon. HB 536 would require all write-in candidates to file a declaration of intent in order for votes for them to be counted and reported to the Secretary of State. Under current statute, when no candidates have filed in a race in a primary election, counties are still required to count write-in votes for a candidate even if they did not file a declaration of intent as a write-in candidate. Counties must do this even though the candidate would only be eligible to move on to the general election if they received 5% of the vote. This is a very difficult threshold for a non-declared write-in candidate to reach.
Counting these votes is a time- and labor-intensive process that requires a three-person write-in board to manually review, confirm, tally and report each vote. The 2022 primary election for Missoula County required more than 250 man-hours to complete this process on the day before, day of and days following the election, for a total cost of around $3,000. This is despite the fact that this particular election included no declared write-in candidates. This bill would reduce the number of staff hours and associated costs currently required to review, confirm, tally and report write-in votes for candidates who did not file a declaration of intent to run. And for elections in which no candidates declared their intent to run, write-in boards would not be necessary at all.
This bill would not eliminate candidates’ ability to run as a write-in, but merely request that they file a declaration of intent if they would like to do so. This small change would help counties be better stewards of taxpayer dollars by eliminating costs spent on counting write-in votes for candidates who did not intend to run. It would also help reduce the administrative burden on election offices as they work to implement new election requirements.
Please support HB 536.
Testimony by Bradley Seaman:
ReplyDeleteChair Cuffe, members of the committee, my name is Bradley Seaman (S-E-A-M-A-N) and I’m the elections administrator for Missoula County. I’m here representing Missoula County and the Montana Association of Clerks and Recorders.
HB 536 would require all write-in candidates to file a declaration of intent in order for votes for them to be counted and reported to the Secretary of State. Under current statute, when no candidates have filed in a race in a primary election, counties are still required to count write-in votes for a candidate even if they did not file a declaration of intent as a write-in candidate. Counties must do this even though the candidate would only be eligible to move on to the general election if they received 5% of the vote. This is actually a very difficult threshold for a non-declared write-in candidate to reach, and I have yet to see this happen during my tenure.
Counting these votes is a time- and labor-intensive process that requires a three-person write-in board to manually review, confirm, tally and report each vote. The 2022 primary election for Missoula County required more than 250 man-hours to complete this process on the day before, day of and days following the election, for a total cost of around $3,000. This is despite the fact that this particular election included no declared write-in candidates.
This bill would reduce the number of staff hours and associated costs currently required to review, confirm, tally and report write-in votes for candidates who did not file a declaration of intent to run. And for elections in which no candidates declared their intent to run, write-in boards would not be necessary at all.
This bill would not eliminate candidates’ ability to run as a write-in, but merely request that they file a declaration of intent if they would like to do so.
This small change would help counties be better stewards of taxpayer dollars by eliminating costs spent on counting write-in votes for candidates who did not intend to run. It would also help reduce the administrative burden on election offices as they work to implement new election requirements.
I would encourage you to vote “Do Pass” on this important legislation.
Testimony by Bradley Seaman:
ReplyDeleteCurrently, when there is a race on the ballot in a primary election for which no candidates filed to run, all write-in votes must be counted to confirm no candidate received at least 5% of the total voters for the last successful candidate at the general election. This happens regularly in counties in which voters vote heavily in favor of one party, and the other party does not field a candidate for an office. It also comes up more which one party does not run a candidate for and has come up more often through the additional participation of political parties.
To complete this process, a three-person write-in board must confirm and tally each write-in vote. When the write-in board receives a ballot, they must review a ballot for the race where the voter marked the write-in oval. Then they must confirm if the vote is a valid write-in vote. The SOS provides instructions on this. There may either be a list of qualified write-in candidates and spellings, or an uncontested race in the primary election.
For example, a voter may write “Mickey Mouse” in on all races on the ballot. However, “Mickey Mouse” would only be a valid write in vote for an uncontested race. If there was a valid candidate for the race they wrote in “Mickey Mouse”, the board would not count the write in vote. Ballots need to be manually reviewed under this process.
After locating the race which has a valid write in vote, one judge reads the vote, and the other two judges record the name of the write in and a tally on a spreadsheet created for the write in votes. Both judges are keeping their own sheet. At the end of the evening, the judges must confirm their tallies match and sign off on all sheets.
After the ballots have been tabulated, the write in votes must be combined from all tally sheets and manually entered into the states reporting software. After that is all completed, if a candidate had met the 5% requirement, they would be offered the nomination in the primary election.
Most commonly, a candidate’s name is written in on the blank race for the candidate who filed and appears on the ballot for the other party. Voters are writing the name of the Republican party candidate on the Democratic party ballot or visa versa. What that means is that if there is an open race for County Commissioner on one party’s ballot, the candidate on the other party’s ballot is written in. If a candidate is successful in the other party’s primary election, they would have 10 days from the canvass to renounce their current affiliation and accept the nomination to the other party. This is extremely unlikely. This is the most common write in vote and the least likely outcome from this process.
Counting write-in votes for open races is a labor intensive process which has not successfully elected a candidate in my tenure. In the 2022 Primary election, we utilized over 250 man-hours to accomplish this task on the day before, day of, and days following the election to complete this process. The total cost for this process was almost $3,000. The top write-in votes were for candidates printed on the other party ballot. While costs may vary from county to county based on number of voters, smaller counties may have an even harder time allocating funding to this process over other county needs.
This bill would limit the number of staff hours and associated costs used confirming, tallying, and reporting write-in votes for candidates who did not file a declaration of intent to run.
This bill would also not eliminate the ability of candidates to run as a write-in candidate, only request that candidates file a declaration of intent if they would like to do so.
This small change has the ability to help counties better stewards of taxpayer dollars by eliminating costs on counting write-in votes for candidates who did not intend to run and helps reduce an administrative burden on election offices when there are multiple new requirements being added to their duties on election night.
I would encourage you to vote “Do Pass” on this important legislation.