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What Happens When B-N Voters Write In A Candidate For President?

James Matthew Anderson poses at WGLT studio
Ryan Denham
James Matthew Anderson, who works in Bloomington as an attorney.

Every day for the past few months, a presidential candidate has visited Bloomington-Normal. But don’t be surprised if you missed the motorcade.

His name is James Matthew “Matt” Anderson of Mahomet, who commutes every day to Bloomington where he works as an attorney. Anderson is a registered write-in candidate for president in McLean County, an easier-than-it-sounds decision he made as a disgruntled voter.

“I share the sentiments of a lot of other folks, locally and nationally, in that we’re not really happy with the two national candidates from the two primary parties,” Anderson said.

It started as a joke with family and friends, about how Anderson—a self-described politics junkie—was finally old enough to be constitutionally eligible to run for president.

That turned into the decision to file paperwork as a write-in candidate for president for Tuesday’s election, meaning votes for Anderson will actually be counted alongside Clinton, Trump, and other on-the-ballot candidates. Anderson’s tongue-in-cheek campaign doesn’t really stand a chance, in part because he’s only registered in places where he has close family and friends—McLean County, Champaign County, Sangamon County, and the Metro East area.

“At a minimum, it will give (my family and friends) an excuse to show up and vote for the down-ticket races and feel like they could walk out with a clear conscience about having to choose between two really unfortunate options,” said Anderson.

His platform? “The easiest thing is that I’m neither Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.”

Writing in a candidate

Illinois is one of 34 states that require write-in candidates like Anderson to file some paperwork in advance of the election, according to Ballotpedia.org. Nine states don’t allow any write-in voting for president, and the remaining states don’t require any pre-election paperwork.

Anderson is one of 10 write-in candidates for president registered with the McLean County clerk, which serves voters throughout the county except in the city of Bloomington. Another one of the 10 is Utah conservative Evan McMullin, positioning himself as an alternative to Trump.

“We have a big number this year,” said McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael.

On Election Day voters can ask election judges in McLean County to see a list of registered write-in candidates at their polling place, Michael said.

“Back in the day, you could write in Mickey Mouse, and Mickey Mouse would get a vote,” Michael said. “Well, they changed that rule a few years ago, where a write-in candidate has to actually file paperwork (to have their votes counted). They don’t have to get signatures, but they have to do their due diligence.”

Locally, voters haven’t been too eager to sacrifice their vote in recent presidential elections.

In the city of Bloomington, only 98 of 33,560 voters cast write-in votes for president in 2012. And of those, only 7 actually counted because they were for candidates who’d registered in advance.

“If you write in Mickey Mouse, we’re not going to count that vote,” said Paul Shannon, executive director with the Bloomington Board of Election Commissioners. “It has to be a certified write-in candidate.”

Learn more about write-in candidates in this story from GLT’s Sound Ideas:

Count on GLT and NPR for comprehensive, substantive coverage of the 2016 election, including the best possible reporting on Tuesday, November 8, starting at 7 p.m.

Ryan Denham is the digital content director for WGLT.