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Fanciful or serious, write-in contests add election color
Sch’dy activists outpoll dead cat
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net

   Lorinda Kay Angers narrowly beat out the spirt of Sparky the cat in Schenectady’s write-in campaign for mayor.
   The 64-year-old Lexington Avenue resident who stumped on a platform to get more pay phones in commercial buildings received seven votes last week, narrowly edging out the beloved feline, who posthumously received two writein tallies. They joined U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, political activist Pat Zollinger and one-time city council candidate Vince Riggi as some of the write-in candidates drawing a handful of votes during this year’s general election.
   In Duanesburg’s uncontested races, Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert garnered a total of eight write-in votes to top the more anonymous campaign of John Doe, who received five votes. Either way, write-in candidates didn’t factor much in Schenectady County elections, said Arthur Brassard, the Republican Commissioner of the county Board of Elections.
   “It’s always interesting to review it,” he said. “Sometimes people have a good sense of humor, other times it’s just a protest vote.”
   But elsewhere around the Capital Region, some races hung on the write-in ballots. One was the hotly contested race for supervisor in the small town of Schodack in Rensselaer County.
   With fewer than three-dozen votes left to count in the supervisor’s race, Ray Lemka maintained a 10-vote lead over Beth Knauf Secor, the Republican incumbent. Lemka, himself an enrolled Republican, sparked the write-in campaign after his Democratic endorsement was overturned in court last month, leaving him without a line on the ballot.
   In the weeks leading up to the election, Lemka rallied support for his candidacy and even explained to residents the proper procedure for the write-in. The result was nothing short of astonishing, explained Edward McDonough, the county’s Democratic election commissioner.
   “We expected a large turnout,” he said. “But to say we expected this kind of turn out? Absolutely not.”
   So far, Lemka has registered 1,718 votes to remain in the lead. The total alone is enough to etch the 76-year-old retired farmer’s name into the record books of Rensselaer County elections,
   “This, by far, just dwarfs any of the previous write-in we’ve seen here,” McDonough said.
RUBBER STAMP VOTE
   However, Lemka’s improbable write-in run isn’t unprecedented in the history of Capital Region elections, explained Robert Brehm, a spokesman for the state Board of Elections. In 1991, John McEneny won a seat on the Albany County Legislature by securing 1,656 writein votes, 61 more than incumbent and fellow Democrat Richard Meyers drew with his name on the ballot.
   “It all depends on the circumstances,” Brehm said. “[Write-in candidates] have the same challenges as any other candidate, meaning you have to go out and convince people they want to vote for you.”
   Of course, McEneny gained roughly 75 votes by distributing a rubber stamp to voters to mark his name at the polls. The move almost precipitated a court case before Meyers conceded.
   McEneny effectively put an end to the write-in controversy less than two years later as a member of the state Assembly, when he successfully sponsored legislation to sanction the use of rubber stamps in such campaigns. Brehm said write-in candidates can now legally distribute stamps to voters as long as the transfer is done more than 100 feet away from a polling area.

  
  
  

Looks to me that it's all about reaching the voters with your message.  Seems daunting but certainly not impossible!

I look at write-in's as a protest vote, whether it is for an animal or human. They are clearly stating they don't approve of ANY candidates no matter what party. I wish there were more.

I believe it can be looked at as a protest vote, although it can't be said that it's not always effective.  Just ask our new County Legislator, Angelo Santabarbara.  Remember, both Santabarbara and Tony Jasenski won their seats on the County legislature just 2 weeks ago.  Now, both of them did have their own line on the ballot, Santabarbara on the Republican line, Jasenski on the Democrat line, but where could you find both of these names right next to each other?  Only by the reult of a write-in vote in the primary race, you would find that on the Conservative Party line.  So, while this wasn't the main election, I must say that without the result that came out of the primary, the main elections results just MAY have been different.