Adding Bernie Sanders to the totals?

[afcassidy]

Will Bernie Sanders' write-in votes be broken out from the total scattered write-in votes? 

I know that's generally not done, but it is unusual to have a draft write-in winning 5%+ of the vote in a single state.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

I made a thread about this (and other write ins like McMullin) last night.

I visited all the websites of all 58 California counties. I was able to get detailed results for write-ins in only 5 of them (I couldn't even find *any* results for Plumas on their website). The five are Humboldt, Tehama, Glenn, Yolo, and Nevada. Many counties didn't even have write in votes listed. Others had them lumped together as "Write Ins."

There's no sense in posting their results right now since they're still likely to change.

I checked Vermont's results and they have write-ins listed. Unfortunately, their list isn't very organized and there's a lot of duplicates (in addition to the spelling errors that they counted).

Has Wyoming added up their write-in votes for McMullin? I'd imagine that he would pay their fee. (Bernie results there will probably go uncounted).

Vermont has been good about giving out the data, but it still needs to be compiled (that brings questions of voter intent, which in not sure if Dave wants to handle). It would take a bit of time to do in Excel (it's not formatted very well if you copy/paste it into Excel. There's some duplicates on the list as well as some misspellings that are pretty clear who they're referring to. Kasich managed to get 0.2% or so in Vermont from what I looked at.

I'm really hoping that the remaining 53 California counties breakdown their results for write ins as well. Both Bernie and McMullin were official write ins (along with 3 other random people).

[NOVA Green]

This is actually an interesting subject, compared to some of the other threads on the Forum these days that have descended us the usual squabbling....

In Oregon, there appears to be an almost historic number of write-ins, about 3% of the total statewide vote, and higher than Steins 2%, and only slightly lower than Johnson's 4%.

Unfortunately we won't know who these write-ins were for, unless the SoS certifies the election results next month, however it appears to be statewide and transcends the traditional partisan affiliations of heavily Democratic and Republican counties.

What I suspect is that a significant chunk of these are Bernie votes, who won 35/36 counties in the Democratic Primary, and possibly some Mormon voters writing in McMullen, where especially in Eastern Oregon you have many counties that are 10%+ Mormon, as well as a smaller but significant statewide population.

I know that Donald Duck will usually win about 1,000 votes in Oregon, regardless of whomever is running for President, and some people write in themselves but..... it is absolutely crazy to have 3% write-in votes in Presidential Election out here....

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

I'd bet that you're on to something about Oregon. Lots of Bernie votes with some McMullin votes sprinkled in. I do hope that they actually break them down though.

[NOVA Green]

I'd bet that you're on to something about Oregon. Lots of Bernie votes with some McMullin votes sprinkled in. I do hope that they actually break them down though.

Write-In votes do count in Oregon, but it appears that we won't get a complete statewide breakdown, and the data will need to be mined from county level websites, although there are some where this is not available online and will need to be paid for.

I'll take a detailed county look once results are certified, since many counties in the state will likely be posting these numbers to see what I can find. It's either that or a trip to the SoS office in Salem, which thankfully is located in a centrally located part of the state, and then I mine through the county level numbers for free for items not available online.... I used to do that in the late '80s and early '90s, and might be worth taking a few notebooks and some spare change for copies of certain pages to satisfy my election geekdom....

Here's from the Oregon SoS website:

When write-in votes are cast in Oregon, they are counted by a process laid out in Oregon law. A voter can write-in a person's name on the ballot and the vote will count. The write-in votes will be tallied together except if the total number of write-in votes equals or exceeds the number of votes cast for any candidate printed on the ballot of the same office, then the tally will show the total number of votes for each write-in candidate.

The impact of a write-in candidate receiving more votes than either major Presidential party nominee whose electors are already assigned has never been evaluated under applicable Oregon and Federal law since this has not arisen in any previous Presidential election. If such a situation should arise, the Elections Division will take appropriate steps to resolve the question prior to the convening of those electors 30 days after the election.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

I'd bet that you're on to something about Oregon. Lots of Bernie votes with some McMullin votes sprinkled in. I do hope that they actually break them down though.

Write-In votes do count in Oregon, but it appears that we won't get a complete statewide breakdown, and the data will need to be mined from county level websites, although there are some where this is not available online and will need to be paid for.

I'll take a detailed county look once results are certified, since many counties in the state will likely be posting these numbers to see what I can find. It's either that or a trip to the SoS office in Salem, which thankfully is located in a centrally located part of the state, and then I mine through the county level numbers for free for items not available online.... I used to do that in the late '80s and early '90s, and might be worth taking a few notebooks and some spare change for copies of certain pages to satisfy my election geekdom....

That's kinda what it's sounding like for CA too. I'll check out 2008 for CA. I know that Ron Paul was an official write in. I seem to recall that not all counties on the Atlas results page have info for Paul. In the case of CA, I don't know how they can not report the officially recognized write ins. It's not like they don't have the data.

The CA Secretary of State doesn't have them listed on the results page. It might be a good idea to wait until the results are certified though. No sense in running around after incomplete numbers.

[NOVA Green]

I'd bet that you're on to something about Oregon. Lots of Bernie votes with some McMullin votes sprinkled in. I do hope that they actually break them down though.

Write-In votes do count in Oregon, but it appears that we won't get a complete statewide breakdown, and the data will need to be mined from county level websites, although there are some where this is not available online and will need to be paid for.

I'll take a detailed county look once results are certified, since many counties in the state will likely be posting these numbers to see what I can find. It's either that or a trip to the SoS office in Salem, which thankfully is located in a centrally located part of the state, and then I mine through the county level numbers for free for items not available online.... I used to do that in the late '80s and early '90s, and might be worth taking a few notebooks and some spare change for copies of certain pages to satisfy my election geekdom....

That's kinda what it's sounding like for CA too. I'll check out 2008 for CA. I know that Ron Paul was an official write in. I seem to recall that not all counties on the Atlas results page have info for Paul. In the case of CA, I don't know how they can not report the officially recognized write ins. It's not like they don't have the data.

The CA Secretary of State doesn't have them listed on the results page. It might be a good idea to wait until the results are certified though. No sense in running around after incomplete numbers.

That's where I'm at for Oregon, but at least results are being counted much quicker for the GE than the 2016 Primary.... took me almost three weeks to get the 100% "unoffical" final results from Oregon, and once the official ones are posted I find out that Bernie unofficially won the one county he "lost" because there were two write-in Bernie votes from Indies or Reps that wrote him in...

Map still looks weird with that one small county in the Grain Belt of Oregon along the Columbia River.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

That's where I'm at for Oregon, but at least results are being counted much quicker for the GE than the 2016 Primary.... took me almost three weeks to get the 100% "unoffical" final results from Oregon, and once the official ones are posted I find out that Bernie unofficially won the one county he "lost" because there were two write-in Bernie votes from Indies or Reps that wrote him in...

Map still looks weird with that one small county in the Grain Belt of Oregon along the Columbia River.

I can see why they didn't count those two votes. So, you were able to get a break down on all of the write in votes? Did Lincoln Chafee get any write in votes?

I'm about halfway through the 2008 results on Atlas for CA and almost all counties do have Ron Paul's votes listed (only 2 out of 30 or so didn't). I think we'll get pretty good results this time, but we'll just have to be patient.

[afcassidy]

There's definitely a history of handling write-in votes for a candidate who is on the ballot somewhere, like Evan McMullin.  That happens every election.

Bernie Sanders was not an "official" candidate in the general, but I think it will be possible when all is said and done to find 100,000+ write-in votes for him. 

In Vermont alone there are already more verified write-in votes for Sanders than for all four of the minor party candidates combined.

So should it be reported just as "write-ins" or would it make sense to break out the Sanders vote whenever possible?

On a national scale, even if you can't verify write-in numbers from all the states, Sanders probably beat Gloria LaRiva and maybe even Darrell Castle.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

There's definitely a history of handling write-in votes for a candidate who is on the ballot somewhere, like Evan McMullin.  That happens every election.

Bernie Sanders was not an "official" candidate in the general, but I think it will be possible when all is said and done to find 100,000+ write-in votes for him. 

In Vermont alone there are already more verified write-in votes for Sanders than for all four of the minor party candidates combined.

So should it be reported just as "write-ins" or would it make sense to break out the Sanders vote whenever possible?

On a national scale, even if you can't verify write-in numbers from all the states, Sanders probably beat Gloria LaRiva and maybe even Darrell Castle.

If we can get data for all of the states that accepted any write ins (plus California), Bernie probably beat Castle. If we add in all other states, Bernie would've beat Castle without a doubt.

I looked at Oregon in 2008. Only one county on Atlas had some of the write ins broken down (Yamhill County). Hopefully we can get more counties this time around.

So far, from the 5 California counties I could find so far, Bernie is on track to get about half a percent in CA.

Yolo  433 0.8%
Humboldt 160 0.46% (will go up)
Glenn 56 0.6%
Tehama 128 0.54%
Nevada 162 0.48%

Humboldt still has to finish figuring out their write ins. Also, most of these counties are only giving early data. Numbers may change.

[jimrtex]

Will Bernie Sanders' write-in votes be broken out from the total scattered write-in votes? 

I know that's generally not done, but it is unusual to have a draft write-in winning 5%+ of the vote in a single state.

It depends on the state. Some states only count votes for official write-in candidates. In Texas, the presidential candidate must file, and include the vice-presidential candidate and 38 elector candidates, each of whom must give their consent.

In other states, a party or slate of electors may file, but they require the consent of the presidential candidate.

In California a slate of elector candidates may file, and designate a presidential candidate without his consent, and there is a Sanders write-in slate in California.

In Washington, write-in votes are counted, but they are not tabulated to individual candidates unless it has an impact on an election. This is primarily to check that apparent write-in votes, undervotes, and overvotes are not actually votes for an on-ballot candidate. Washington does permit write-ins for undeclared write-in candidates, as long as the office and candidate are clear. Since there is a space for write-in candidates for each office, a vote for [X] Write-In "Sanders" under presidential candidate would be clear if he had filed in Washington. But there are 1000s of Sanders in this country. Why should it be assumed that it is a vote for some elderly person in a tiny state in New England?

The SOS is not reporting write-ins, but King County has 2.58% and Pierce County 3.09%.

[afcassidy]

I guess I should clarify that my question is how the Atlas will handle breaking the Sanders vote out.

[jimrtex]

This is actually an interesting subject, compared to some of the other threads on the Forum these days that have descended us the usual squabbling....

In Oregon, there appears to be an almost historic number of write-ins, about 3% of the total statewide vote, and higher than Steins 2%, and only slightly lower than Johnson's 4%.

Unfortunately we won't know who these write-ins were for, unless the SoS certifies the election results next month, however it appears to be statewide and transcends the traditional partisan affiliations of heavily Democratic and Republican counties.

What I suspect is that a significant chunk of these are Bernie votes, who won 35/36 counties in the Democratic Primary, and possibly some Mormon voters writing in McMullen, where especially in Eastern Oregon you have many counties that are 10%+ Mormon, as well as a smaller but significant statewide population.

I know that Donald Duck will usually win about 1,000 votes in Oregon, regardless of whomever is running for President, and some people write in themselves but..... it is absolutely crazy to have 3% write-in votes in Presidential Election out here....

ORS 254.500 would appear to forbid tallying write-in votes for individual candidates.

[jimrtex]

That's where I'm at for Oregon, but at least results are being counted much quicker for the GE than the 2016 Primary.... took me almost three weeks to get the 100% "unoffical" final results from Oregon, and once the official ones are posted I find out that Bernie unofficially won the one county he "lost" because there were two write-in Bernie votes from Indies or Reps that wrote him in...

Map still looks weird with that one small county in the Grain Belt of Oregon along the Columbia River.

I can see why they didn't count those two votes. So, you were able to get a break down on all of the write in votes? Did Lincoln Chafee get any write in votes?

I'm about halfway through the 2008 results on Atlas for CA and almost all counties do have Ron Paul's votes listed (only 2 out of 30 or so didn't). I think we'll get pretty good results this time, but we'll just have to be patient.

The Secretary of State has vote totals for all write-in candidates in 2008 and 2012 by county. There is a possibility that Trinity in 2012 and Del Norte in 2008 did not report write-ins.

But California is unusual in that it permits slates of write-in elector candidates, without the permission of the presidential candidate (the same is true for all elector slates, The California Democratic Party did not have to have Clinton's consent to have her name appear on the ballot).

[jimrtex]

Here's from the Oregon SoS website:

When write-in votes are cast in Oregon, they are counted by a process laid out in Oregon law. A voter can write-in a person's name on the ballot and the vote will count. The write-in votes will be tallied together except if the total number of write-in votes equals or exceeds the number of votes cast for any candidate printed on the ballot of the same office, then the tally will show the total number of votes for each write-in candidate.

The impact of a write-in candidate receiving more votes than either major Presidential party nominee whose electors are already assigned has never been evaluated under applicable Oregon and Federal law since this has not arisen in any previous Presidential election. If such a situation should arise, the Elections Division will take appropriate steps to resolve the question prior to the convening of those electors 30 days after the election.

It looks like the SOS misread or misquoted the statute (ORS 254.500). Parts of the first paragraph quote the statute verbatim, but skip the part that is bolded. Perhaps they were focused on the second part of the question.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ps Johnson and Stein are (or were) tied in Multnomah County with 12,594 votes.

[RI]

Looks like Bernie got about 0.6% (~4500 votes) in New Hampshire.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

Looks like Bernie got about 0.6% (~4500 votes) in New Hampshire.

Interesting . Do you have a source?

Here's from the Oregon SoS website:

When write-in votes are cast in Oregon, they are counted by a process laid out in Oregon law. A voter can write-in a person's name on the ballot and the vote will count. The write-in votes will be tallied together except if the total number of write-in votes equals or exceeds the number of votes cast for any candidate printed on the ballot of the same office, then the tally will show the total number of votes for each write-in candidate.

The impact of a write-in candidate receiving more votes than either major Presidential party nominee whose electors are already assigned has never been evaluated under applicable Oregon and Federal law since this has not arisen in any previous Presidential election. If such a situation should arise, the Elections Division will take appropriate steps to resolve the question prior to the convening of those electors 30 days after the election.

It looks like the SOS misread or misquoted the statute (ORS 254.500). Parts of the first paragraph quote the statute verbatim, but skip the part that is bolded. Perhaps they were focused on the second part of the question.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ps Johnson and Stein are (or were) tied in Multnomah County with 12,594 votes.

To me, that law says that they have to tally them up since write ins (3.59%) beat Jill Stein (2.48%).

[RI]

Looks like Bernie got about 0.6% (~4500 votes) in New Hampshire.

Interesting . Do you have a source?

http://sos.nh.gov/2016PresGen.aspx?id=8589963688

Kasich received the second most write-ins, followed by McMullin and Pence.

[NOVA Green]

Here's from the Oregon SoS website:

When write-in votes are cast in Oregon, they are counted by a process laid out in Oregon law. A voter can write-in a person's name on the ballot and the vote will count. The write-in votes will be tallied together except if the total number of write-in votes equals or exceeds the number of votes cast for any candidate printed on the ballot of the same office, then the tally will show the total number of votes for each write-in candidate.

The impact of a write-in candidate receiving more votes than either major Presidential party nominee whose electors are already assigned has never been evaluated under applicable Oregon and Federal law since this has not arisen in any previous Presidential election. If such a situation should arise, the Elections Division will take appropriate steps to resolve the question prior to the convening of those electors 30 days after the election.

It looks like the SOS misread or misquoted the statute (ORS 254.500). Parts of the first paragraph quote the statute verbatim, but skip the part that is bolded. Perhaps they were focused on the second part of the question.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

ps Johnson and Stein are (or were) tied in Multnomah County with 12,594 votes.

Interesting.... typically I would find the write-in numbers for Oregon in the final certified statement of votes cast with the detailed precinct level returns, although there are some counties that don't have that information available online. Also, some counties may have migrated to a new system, so I don't know if that information will be as easily accessible this year, although it is definitely on the official documentation provided to the SoS archives in Salem, having gone through the process of trawling through the data some years back.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

Looks like Bernie got about 0.6% (~4500 votes) in New Hampshire.

Interesting . Do you have a source?

http://sos.nh.gov/2016PresGen.aspx?id=8589963688

Kasich received the second most write-ins, followed by McMullin and Pence.

Awesome!

Hopefully we can get these put in the results page for NH.

Edit: I see McMullin is already on there.