THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050267
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 69 lines
Experts tell us we're in an era of popular disillusionment with the political process. If they're right, many Americans out there are pondering the presidential choices that face them in the voting booth today and feeling turned off by the lot of them.
Say you just can't stomach the idea of voting for Bill Clinton, Bob Dole or Ross Perot. What to do?
Your options are pretty limited, especially in Virginia.
Three other presidential candidates are listed on the Virginia ballot, but they aren't exactly household names: Harry Browne, John Hagelin, Howard Phillips.
Probably the best-known ``other'' candidate for president this year is Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate running on the environmentalist Green Party ticket. His name appears on the ballot on 21 states and the District of Columbia, but not in Virginia.
``So,'' the disillusioned voter might ask, ``can I write him in?''
The answer, in Virginia, is no. You can't write in Nader - or anyone else, for that matter.
Virginia is one of eight states where write-ins aren't allowed in presidential balloting.
Blame it on the Electoral College, that quaint relic of the 18th century that still governs presidential voting today.
Here's how Bruce Meadows, secretary of the State Board of Elections, explained it Monday: ``The thinking behind it is that since you are voting for a slate of electors rather than a candidate, it's impossible to write in the 13 electors in that write-in spot if there was one available.''
So how do the 42 states that allow write-ins manage it?
Most of them ``have some provision that a slate of electors must be presented to their state board of elections for a write-in vote to count,'' Meadows said. ``That way, the votes for Donald Duck and things of that nature are not counted.''
The way the Greens see it, Virginia's prohibition on write-ins is a sign of antipathy toward political pluralism.
``They just don't want third parties involved in the game,'' said Eric Sheffield, co-clerk of the Green Party of Virginia.
The Greens took the state to court last month in an attempt to overturn the policy, arguing that it violates Article II, Section 3 of the state Constitution, which says in part: ``In elections other than primary elections, provision shall be made whereby votes may be cast for persons other than the listed candidates or nominees.''
But Richmond Circuit Judge Melvin Hughes dismissed the case, agreeing with the state's argument that the state Constitution is overridden by the U.S. Constitution, which gives state legislatures power over the selection of presidential electors.
``State legislatures could theoretically say if you stand on your head for 24 hours, you could be a presidential elector,'' said James Hopper, the senior assistant attorney general who argued the state's case.
Hughes' quashing of the Greens' challenge has drawn the ire of voting rights advocates.
``It's the most outrageous decision in the country this year in the area of voters' rights,'' said Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, a San Francisco-based newsletter. ``It's in your state constitution that the right to cast a write-in vote in a general election is guaranteed, and yet the State Board of Elections won't permit it for president.''
The Greens say they will appeal the decision on behalf of future write-in candidates, even though it's too late for their man Nader. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Ralph Nader appears on ballots in 21 states and the District of
Columbia, but not in Virginia. And voters can't write him in.
KEYWORDS: ELECTORAL COLLEGE BALLOT by CNB