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CUMBERLAND — Remember that time when you were so disenchanted with the candidates on the ballot and chose to write in the name of your favorite cartoon character?
Turns out, your vote didn’t count. Unless, that is, SpongeBob Squarepants or Elmer Fudd actually filed as a write-in candidate and otherwise met all the requirements to be a bona fide candidate.
“We always have somebody who writes in Mickey Mouse,” said Diane Loibel, administrator for the Allegany County Board of Elections.
Write-in candidates must file with the local or state Board of Elections by 5 p.m. on Oct. 27. Unless running for federal office, a statement of organization must be filed as well as a financial disclosure. There is no filing fee. Write-in candidates must do all of the routine finance reporting done by traditional candidates.
Loibel said it’s difficult for write-in candidates, who automatically advance to the Nov. 2 general election, but they can increase their chances of being seen.
Election officials “recommend they file as early as possible to their benefit so their names appear on the specimen ballot,” Loibel said.
Otherwise, Loibel said, “it’s pretty tough, since you’re name’s not appearing anywhere (and) people aren’t seeing it.”
The name of write-in candidates do not appear on the voter’s ballot, Loibel said. Instead, each polling place displays a list of write-in candidates.
To cast a vote for a write-in candidate, a voter must select “write-in” and then manually type in a candidate’s name — last name first, first name last — then choose “record write-in.”
Frostburg resident Mike Wade is the only write-in candidate in Allegany County since 1999, Loibel said. Wade, currently a Republican candidate for county commissioner, ran for that same office four years ago. Wade garnered more than 2,000 write-in votes but finished with less than 25 percent of what it required to take office.
There are 24 challengers vying for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Barbara Mikulski. Three of them — James T. Lynch Jr., Claud L. Asbury and Donald Kaplan — are genuine write-in candidates. They filed in August, May and July, respectively.
Kaplan, 52, of Baltimore, claims on his website that Maryland’s legislature is ruled by the Democrats and Republicans who “make it almost impossible for an unaffiliated candidate to get on the ballot.”
“These arcane laws ensure the two-party system remains in place, and Republicans and Democrats continue to control our country. And we all know how well that is working out.”
Kevin Spradlin can be reached at kspradlin@times-news.com.
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