Write-in Campaigns, While Challenging, Not Uncommon
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Oskaloosa, Iowa- With the announcement from Jimmy Carter of his intent to run for Council this year, the area has been buzzing with concerns of whether or not a write in candidacy makes a person a “legitimate” City Council candidate.
A write-in campaign itself is rather difficult. A candidate must be able to get people out to the polls, and they must be able to get them to take extra time to write down their name rather than look for them on the ballot.
Mahaska County and Oskaloosa have seen its’ fair share of write-in campaigns. The last successful write-in campaign occurred in 1999.
In the 1999 Oskaloosa Municipal Elections, only one race was contested. That particular race was for the At-Large seat on the ballot that year. The race pitted James Hansen and Ruthi Oberg against each other. However, after the filing deadline and during the campaign, another person entered the race. That person was Eric Palmer, when he entered the race as a write-in candidate.
On the November 2nd election, Palmer won a plurality of all the votes cast, however since he had not reached the 50% +1 threshold as was required, he was forced into a run off election with James Hansen. Palmer would end up winning the run-off election, earning him a seat on the Oskaloosa City Council.
While very uncommon in history, two national figures have been elected to Congress by a write-in campaign. In 1954, Incumbent South Carolina Senator Burnet Maybank faced no opposition for re-election. However, Maybank died later that year. After the State Democrat Party chose not to have a primary and to instead have their executive committee decided the candidate, Strom Thurmond entered the race as a write-in candidate. Thurmond would later win election to the Senate with 63% of the vote. Thurmond would become the longest serving member of Congress ever until recently being surpassed by the late Robert Byrd.
In 2010, another write-in candidate was elected to the Senate. Incumbent Alaska Senator, Lisa Murkowski, was narrowly defeated in the Republican Primary by Attorney Joe Miller. Murkowski later entered the race as a write-in candidate. Murkowski would later be narrowly re-elected to the Senate.
Other communities in Mahaska County see write-in campaigns quite often. In 2009, the city of Rose Hill was forced to hold a run-off election between two write-in candidates for City Council. In addition, another write-in candidate received enough votes to be elected to the Rose Hill City Council without having to go through a write-in campaign.
In addition to this year’s write in campaign in Oskaloosa, several other communities in the County will have to rely on write-in candidates. The City of Beacon will elect its’ Mayor and three of five Council Members by write-in campaigns. Beacon Mayor Shawn Maxwell has said that he will be running as a write-in candidate for Mayor again this year.
Barnes City faces a similar scenario with its’ Mayor having to be elected by write-in votes this year. The Cities of Keomah Village and Rose Hill will both have to elect one City Council Member by write-in votes this year too.
Municipal Elections will be held on November 8th.
