Blake Evans Fulton County Elections Chief (404) 612-7033 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Blake Evans

Fulton County Elections Chief (404) 612-7033 joseph.evans@fultoncountyga.gov # of Active Voters: 746,138 # of Election Day Polling Places: 207 # of Advance Voting Locations: 24

GAVREO Conference December 2019

Write-In Candidates: Qualifying and Tabulating

GAVREO Conference December 2019

Notable Write-In Candidates Who Have Won

• Some former Presidents have won state Presidential Primaries

as write-in candidates.

• Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, and Franklin D.

Roosevelt

• A current US Senator from Alaska won a 2010 Senate contest

as a write-in.

• Other local elections where write-in candidates have had

success.

• 2005 Mayoral Election in Hillsdale, Michigan
• 1967 Mayoral Election in Picoazá, Ecuador

GAVREO Conference December 2019

How Write-In Candidates Qualify in Georgia

• OCGA 21-2-133
• Includes information about the following:
• Filing and publishing a notice of intent of candidacy.
• Filing an affidavit.
• Limitations on candidacy.
• Certification of write-in candidates.

GAVREO Conference December 2019

How Write-In Candidates Qualify in Georgia

• Filing and Publishing Deadlines
• County, State, and Federal Elections
• No earlier than January 1st; no later than the first

Tuesday after the first Monday in September.

• Nonpartisan Elections for State or County Offices;

Municipal General Elections; and Special Elections

• No later than 7 days after the close of the qualifying

period.

GAVREO Conference December 2019

How Write-In Candidates Qualify in Georgia

• How and Where to File and Publish
• State General or Special Election
• Filed with Secretary of State and published in a

newspaper of general circulation.

• County General or Special Election
• Filed with county Superintendent and published in

the county’s official organ.

• Municipal General or Special Election
• Filed with city superintendent and published in the

city’s official gazette.

GAVREO Conference December 2019

What if A Representative of the Candidate Files Qualifying Documents?

• The representative(s) must meet all previous filing and

publication requirements.

• The representative(s) must have written, notarized

authorization from the candidate.

• The representative(s) must also file:
• A copy of the notice as published with an affidavit

stating that the notice has been published.

• The newspaper name should be included.
• The affidavit can be made by:
• Candidate representative(s)
• Newspaper publisher
• Designated newspaper employee

GAVREO Conference December 2019

Other Notes about Qualifying as a Write-in

• OCGA 21-2-133(c)
• “No person shall be eligible as a write-in candidate in a

special or general primary, a special or general primary runoff, or in a special or general election runoff.”

GAVREO Conference December 2019

Certifying Write-In Candidates

• OCGA 21-2-133(e)
• The Secretary of State must certify write-in candidates

within 5 days following submission deadline, and the names must be sent to counties.

• Counties and cities must certify write-in candidates

within 5 days.

GAVREO Conference December 2019

How We will Tabulate Results

• OCGA 21-2-483
• “For any election for which there is a qualified write-in

candidate, the feature on precinct count and central count tabulators allowing separation of write-in votes shall be utilized.”

• Dominion Voting System Features
• Precinct Scanners – ImageCast Precinct (ICP)
• Write-in votes will fall into a separate bin.

GAVREO Conference December 2019

How We will Tabulate Results

• Dominion Voting System Features
• Central Scanners
• As batches of ballots are accepted, write-in votes can be

accepted using the adjudication module.

• Depends partially on configuration of your laptops

and central scanners.

• All devices will communicate via closed network

connections.

GAVREO Conference December 2019

How We will Tabulate Results

• Write-in Reports
• ICP Reports
• The precinct scanner can print the image of every write-

in vote on the end-of-night tape.

• Central Server Reports
• You will have the ability to view all write-in results and

assign the correct tally to qualified write-ins.

• You can print election results reports so that the vote for

all qualified candidates are shown.

GAVREO Conference December 2019

How We will Tabulate Results

• OCGA 21-2-499
• (c) “The Secretary of State shall not count, tabulate, or

publish the names of any write-in candidates for whom the notice of intention of candidacy has not been provided in compliance with Code Section 21-2-133.”

GAVREO Conference December 2019