Write in votes

[Guest Larry S]

To Whom It May Concern;

 

Our organization just had an election. There were 3 positions to be filled. For two of them, there were candidates. For one, there were no nominations during the nomination period. We went ahead with the election, and for the position without a candidate, we just had a line for a write in vote for any eligible person of the association. There were a number of write in votes. Would the person with the most write in votes be elected?

[Joshua Katz]

Only if said person received a majority of the votes cast. If not, you'll need to vote again.

[Bruce Lages]

Were these three positions for identical offices - such as board member or director - or were they for different offices?

[Richard Brown]

To follow up on the questions asked by Mr. Lages, but to  be just a bit more specific, if these positions were for, say, directors, were they three Director at large positions on the same ballot where members can vote for up to three,  or were they three separate directorships, like division A, division B, and division C where each position was voted on separately?

[Atul Kapur]

Guest Larry S, the questions are important for determining the denominator when figuring out if any person received a majority of the votes cast for the third position. If they are separate positions, then you only count ballots that indicate a preference for someone for that position (ie, those that wrote in someone's name). Any ballots that were blank for that position are ignored and not counted. Say you had 50 ballots altogether, and 10 wrote in someone's name. Six votes would be required to have a majority (6 is a majority of 10).

However, if you were electing to three equivalent positions, with a ballot where voters could vote for up to three, then the denominator is the number of ballots that indicate any preference, that is, at least one vote. If all 50 ballots voted for one or two names and some also had a write-in, then any write-in would need to get 26 votes, as 26 is a majority of the total 50 (the same would apply to any of the nominated candidates).

[Guest Larry S]

I really appreciate the help from you all. To continue--I do understand the difference between majority and plurality. In this case, along with all the voting we did as a nation in November, why wouldn't a plurality of write in votes be enough? For example: (and this position is unique from the other 2) 20 write in votes--3 people received votes--11-8-1. No problem, the 11 wins. How about 20 write in votes--3 people received votes--9-6-5. Are you saying the 9 would not win, and there would be a runoff between the 9 and the 6? Thanks again to you all for your help!

[J. J.]

On 1/29/2023 at 10:29 AM, Guest Larry S said:

I really appreciate the help from you all. To continue--I do understand the difference between majority and plurality. In this case, along with all the voting we did as a nation in November, why wouldn't a plurality of write in votes be enough? For example: (and this position is unique from the other 2) 20 write in votes--3 people received votes--11-8-1. No problem, the 11 wins. How about 20 write in votes--3 people received votes--9-6-5. Are you saying the 9 would not win, and there would be a runoff between the 9 and the 6? Thanks again to you all for your help!

Plurality votes never carries a proposition or elects someone. unless the rules provide otherwise (44:11).  There would be a runoff between all choices, not the top two. 

[Richard Brown]

On 1/29/2023 at 9:29 AM, Guest Larry S said:

How about 20 write in votes--3 people received votes--9-6-5. Are you saying the 9 would not win, and there would be a runoff between the 9 and the 6? 

The person with nine votes would not win because he did not receive a majority of the votes cast. If there were 20 votes cast, a candidate would need 11 votes – a majority – in order to win. In addition, in the scenario you put forth, there would not be a runoff between the top two candidates, there would be a new ballot with all three names remaining on the ballot, along with a line for still additional write-in votes.

Note:  This answer assumes that only 20 ballots were cast in the race for directors. It appears you have put forth a new scenario unrelated to the facts in your initial post.

Edited January 29, 2023 at 04:58 PM by Richard Brown
Deleted the note

[Gary Novosielski]

On 1/29/2023 at 10:29 AM, Guest Larry S said:

I really appreciate the help from you all. To continue--I do understand the difference between majority and plurality. In this case, along with all the voting we did as a nation in November, why wouldn't a plurality of write in votes be enough? For example: (and this position is unique from the other 2) 20 write in votes--3 people received votes--11-8-1. No problem, the 11 wins. How about 20 write in votes--3 people received votes--9-6-5. Are you saying the 9 would not win, and there would be a runoff between the 9 and the 6? Thanks again to you all for your help!

A plurality of votes is sufficient to elect a candidate in most national elections, but not if the rules in RONR apply.  

Under RONR, no candidate is elected by less than a majority vote.  In other words, the winning candidate must have more votes than all the other candidates combined.  In your scenario, there are 9 votes for the leading candidate, but 11 votes for others.  No one is elected and a second ballot is required. (This is similar to the process used to elect a Speaker of the House which took place earlier this month, which went 15 ballots before electing a speaker.)

The second and subsequent ballots are not "run-off" ballots.  No names are dropped, and in fact new names can be added.  This is not exactly the same as the Speaker elections referred to above.  In that process, nominations are made from scratch before every ballot. Under RONR, the list of nominees remains the same, unless individuals withdraw or nominations are reopened.