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Write-in winner oddity in Pa. politics

Someone once said it is easier for a whale to swim through a keyhole than it is for a write-in candidate to defeat a person already on the ballot in Pennsylvania.

Last month, in a special election in the 197th Legislative District, write-in candidate Emilio Vasquez saved the Democratic Party from another embarrassment by besting the Republican ballot candidate, Lucinda Little. It shows how dominant the Democrats are in the state's largest city but how woefully lacking in most rural areas.The win gives Democrats 82 seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, still far fewer than the Republicans' 121.Although Little was the only eligible candidate in the race, she received just 8 percent of the vote. Write-in candidates, including Vasquez, received 92 percent in the Northeast Philly district that is populated by 85 percent Democrats.Democrats had tried to get Vasquez on the ballot after their original choice, Freddie Ramirez, was removed because of a residency challenge. Democratic officials then nominated Vasquez, but, by then it was past the filing deadline.The Democrats went to court to try to overturn the Election Bureau's ruling about the late filing, but Commonwealth Court Judge Anne Covey upheld the ruling. Green Party candidate Cheri Honkala was also denied a spot on the ballot after she submitted her nominating petition a day after the deadline.The special election was ordered to fill the vacant seat of Leslie Acosta, who resigned on Jan. 3. Last fall, Acosta pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which is a federal felony.Write-in candidates rarely win elections. While some write-in campaigns are legitimate, others are not. Disgusted voters who don't like any of the on-ballot candidates might vote for ineligible people or fictional characters.During my years of covering elections, I have seen write-ins for the likes of Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, J. Fred Muggs (the chimp on the old Today show with Dave Garroway), Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton. Even popular culture gets in on the act: In an issue of Ultimate Comics, Captain America is elected president of the United States by way of write-in votes.I even received write-in votes for mayor of Oswego when I was publisher of the daily newspaper in that central New York state community.Write-in vote winners are much more common on the local level where just a few of these types of votes can carry a candidate to victory. Organizing statewide write-in campaigns takes herculean efforts, but they are possible. There are two modern-day examples right here in Pennsylvania: In 1944, Thomas Dewey won the Republican presidential nomination in the commonwealth with 146,706 write-ins, and Harold Stassen won the GOP presidential primary in Pennsylvania in 1948 with 81,242 write-ins. Both lost in the general election to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, respectively.Scott Wagner, the wealthy York County businessman who is challenging Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's re-election bid next year, was elected to the state Senate in a March 2014 special election as an anti-establishment Republican write-in candidate. He defeated endorsed Republican nominee Ron Miller and Democrat Linda Small, both of whom were on the ballot.One of the most shocking write-in victories in modern times came in 2010 when incumbent U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, lost the Republican primary to Joe Miller. Following her loss, she ran as a write-in candidate in the general election and beat Miller and Democratic Party candidate Scott McAdams.Running a successful write-in campaign ranks somewhere between visiting Alice in Wonderland and figuring out the riddle of the Sphinx. The American dream still may hold that anyone can be elected to public office, but write-ins almost always are relegated to the scrap heap in this era of big-money politics.Even winning a seat on borough council or on the township board of supervisors can cost thousands of dollars and require significant campaigning to get name recognition. Most write-in efforts are poorly organized by candidates who come into political contests as Johnnys-come-lately. Once in a blue moon, lightning will strike, but for every write-in campaigner who wins, there are thousands of losers.By Bruce Frassinelli |

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