Pennsylvania

The official election code refers to the fact that a voter who wishes to cast a vote for a write-in Presidential candidate must write-in the names of his/her 21 Presidential Electors on the ballot. However, according to a PA Bureau of Elections official, historically counties in PA have counted whatever is written in. If voters write in the actual candidate’s name, that write-in vote has been counted for the candidate. The official said that the distinction between “presidential elector” and “presidential candidate” is allowed to be blurred. However, he said that he always advises write-in candidates to contact the various counties in PA to assure that all the votes written in for them are counted as such – for example, without that communication, some counties might not watch out for various spellings of a candidates name, and end up counting them as separate votes, etc. The official admitted that Pennsylvania’s system is archaic and not good. He said that there should be some kind of pre-certification of write-in candidates like those that operate in other states, so that the county and state elections boards are all on the same page as to who the write-in candidates are, who to count votes for, etc. He said that if PA were to actually hold to the code which states that the 21 electors must be written in, and not the candidates name, it would be challenged, and the challenger would easily win the case.