The backside of the ballot
Oct. 10th, 2020 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arkuatWHY does Minnesota bother to require printing all the UNCONTESTED judicial elections on the ballot? What conceivable good does this do anyone?
It would make sense if they actually counted write-in votes, but I learned recently that Minnesota does not count write-in votes unless requested to do so by the particular write-in candidate, and that they only count write-in votes for candidates who have formally requested such counting.
I happen to know (I used to be one of them, but that's not the only reason) that there are a lot of people out there who are afraid their ballots will be discarded, and all of their votes ignored, if they don't vote in every single contest on the ballot. I happen to know now that's not the case (at least not in Minnesota), but I remember the time I wasted trying to research these useless votes in uncontested races where the press published practically nothing about the candidates in these races. Multiply that by all the other poor souls who haven't discovered Naomi Kritzer yet! And no, Naomi doesn't bother researching these contests that have no effect on anything either. It would be a waste of everyone's time.
It would make sense if they actually counted write-in votes, but I learned recently that Minnesota does not count write-in votes unless requested to do so by the particular write-in candidate, and that they only count write-in votes for candidates who have formally requested such counting.
I happen to know (I used to be one of them, but that's not the only reason) that there are a lot of people out there who are afraid their ballots will be discarded, and all of their votes ignored, if they don't vote in every single contest on the ballot. I happen to know now that's not the case (at least not in Minnesota), but I remember the time I wasted trying to research these useless votes in uncontested races where the press published practically nothing about the candidates in these races. Multiply that by all the other poor souls who haven't discovered Naomi Kritzer yet! And no, Naomi doesn't bother researching these contests that have no effect on anything either. It would be a waste of everyone's time.
