This story was originally published by Outlier Media.
Detroit voters can expect to see a wave of write-in candidates this election cycle — people whose names won’t appear on the ballot, but who hope you’ll write them in anyway.
Why go the write-in route? For one, it allows candidates to skip the signature-gathering requirement needed to qualify for the ballot. But the trade-off is steep: Write-in campaigns are harder to promote, often overlooked by the media and require more work to build name recognition.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan ran his first mayoral campaign as a write-in, after a judge ruled he hadn’t lived in the city long enough to qualify for the ballot. His win was a rare exception.
Why are there so many write-ins?
Some of this year’s write-in candidates say they were tripped up by confusing guidance from the City Clerk’s office.
Mayoral candidate Arnold Boyd intended to be on the ballot. But he said someone in the Clerk’s Office told him he had until August to update his voting address. The real deadline was in April, and he missed it — making him ineligible to file as an official candidate. A representative from the Clerk’s Office said they had no knowledge of this situation with Boyd.
Rogelio Landin decided to run as a write-in candidate for mayor after realizing he might fall short of the 500 required signatures to be on the ballot. He thought if Duggan could do it, so could he. But he’s been excluded from many candidate forums (including Outlier’s) and has received little media interest.
“I’m disappointed that people are using status of write-in to determine qualifications and so forth,” Landin said. “If it’s a disqualifier, why is it even part of the process?”
Other write-in snafus
Byron Osbern planned to run for a seat on his community advisory council and thought he had until July to submit signatures to get on the ballot. He said the Clerk’s Office gave him the wrong form with the wrong date.
Now, he’ll need to run as a write-in or get appointed by his city councilmember after the general election.
Several other offices will also rely on write-in candidates, including open seats on the Board of Police Commissioners, and for city councilmember in Districts 4 and 6.
How do I run a write-in campaign?
To launch a write-in campaign, you must file a “declaration of intent” with the Clerk’s Office.
The filing deadline depends on the race. If there are folks on the ballot who are running for that seat, the candidate must file two Fridays before the primary election. The deadline is later if the seat isn’t contested: two Fridays before the general election.
How do I vote for a write-in candidate?
Write-in candidates won’t be on your ballot in the Aug. 5 primary or Nov. 4 general election.
To vote for one, write their name in the space provided and fill in the oval bubble next to their name. Filling in the oval is important; your vote won’t count if the oval is left blank.
Technically, you can write in anyone, and people do. But only votes for candidates who’ve filed a declaration of intent with the City Clerk’s Office at least two Fridays before the primary if others are running for that seat or position count.
For nearly all primary races in Detroit, the top two candidates can advance to the general election.
This article first appeared on Outlier Media and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.