Don't Like Your Choices? Even Write-In Might Not Be an Option

By Phil Huckelberry

write-in ballot If having a lot of choices is your thing, you may be jealous of me. The 38th Ward, where I live, will have seven candidates on the ballot for alderman. We have nothing on the 24th Ward, where 10 candidates will appear.

But you might live in one of the wards where there is only one candidate on the ballot -- and you do not like the candidate. So you might be thinking you will just write somebody in.

Guess what? You might not even be able to do that.

You can only cast a write-in vote if a write-in candidate has filed in that particular race. If nobody filed, the write-in line will not be available. As of today, write-in candidates have filed in only 13 wards, and the only people who can still legally file to be write-in candidates are those who have recently been kicked off the ballot.

Even if there is a write-in line, your vote will not be tabulated unless you vote for one of the filed candidates. We will never know how many votes Mickey Mouse might get in the 43rd Ward.

It did not used to be quite this bad. As of 2007, a candidate could file as a write-in candidate only 5 days before an election. The ballots all simply came with write-in lines. That law had been on the books for a long time and caused no particular issues for anyone.

That August, however, the General Assembly passed an omnibus election bill which changed the write-in filing deadline from 5 days before an election to 60 days before an election. It also made it so that, when no write-in candidates file for a given office, a write-in line does not get included on the ballot.

Now, it is not like a write-in candidate is liable to get elected alderman any time soon. This is way down the list of things to be outraged about regarding the increasingly anti-democratic election laws in Illinois. But at least a write-in line gives people an opportunity to express something. If you live in the 13th Ward, your choice is to vote for Marty Quinn, or... not to. Have fun with that one!

The Chicago Board of Elections website provides the complete list of write-in candidates for the February 24 election. You can also request upon entering the polls to see the list of declared write-in candidates. Four people have filed as write-in candidates for mayor and one for city clerk, so if you are so inclined, you will be able to write Mickey Mouse in for something. It just will not be counted.

Chicago Board of Elections 2015 Write in List by Gapers Block