Well it used to be that recording all the write-in names was a thing, in Chicago and in Wisconsin. During a big election, that was a lot of work for two pollworkers (out of six or ten or whatever) at the end of a very long day. But if the slot isn't on the ballot, no one can write anything in, right?
(I did hear, a long time ago, that some researchers did go and look at the write-in names, [waves hand vaguely] to try to gain insight into the moods of the voters. The times I had that task on election day, there were the predictable ("none of the above," "my mom"), the inscrutable (names that no one recognized), and the annoying ("does anyone really read this?"). A mixed bag, but we did it because we followed the rules.
In the last ten years or so, Wisconsin changed the rules and gave up on all that nonsense. Now, anyone running as a write-in candidate has to let the elections folks know ahead of time, and the poll workers record only the votes for those specific people.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2020-10-11 06:21 pm (UTC)(I did hear, a long time ago, that some researchers did go and look at the write-in names, [waves hand vaguely] to try to gain insight into the moods of the voters. The times I had that task on election day, there were the predictable ("none of the above," "my mom"), the inscrutable (names that no one recognized), and the annoying ("does anyone really read this?"). A mixed bag, but we did it because we followed the rules.
In the last ten years or so, Wisconsin changed the rules and gave up on all that nonsense. Now, anyone running as a write-in candidate has to let the elections folks know ahead of time, and the poll workers record only the votes for those specific people.)