Neb State Auditor switches from GOP to Dem; History of Congressional Write-In victories
Continue Reading August 19th, 2006
WEEKEND NEWS UPDATE.
NEBRASKA: GOP STATE AUDITOR SWITCHES PARTIES.
State Auditor Kate Witek switched parties Friday from the GOP to the Democrats, complaining to the Lincoln Star-Journal of a desire by the Republican leaders to have “total control of everything … [with] a good-old-boy handful of people making the decisions.” in the state to get elected rather than govern. Witek, a two-term State Auditor and former State Senator — was Congressman Tom Osborne’s runningmate for Lieutenant Governor in this year’s GOP primary. Witek, 51, is a lifelong Republican and staunch pro-life advocate. The conservative Witek was often at odds, however, with her statehouse GOP colleagues as she was unafraid to criticize Republicans and Democrats alike in her capacity as State Auditor. She was largely responsible for bringing down the GOP State Treasurer two years ago in an office funding scandal. Witek joined her new party at the Democratic State Convention on Saturday, where she was named as the Democratic nominee for State Auditor by a 171-106 vote — as no Democrat had filed for the office. The split at the convention came from Democrats concerned Witek was far too conservative to adequately represent her new party. While the State GOP Chair offered only a terse “no comment” on the defection, former runningmate Osborne wished her well: “We appreciate Kate’s experience and expertise and we respect her opinions and views.”
Writer: Barry Reutzel of VoxPopuli-NE.com - 08.19.06
TEXAS: GOP FACES OBSTACLES, UPHILL FIGHT WITH CD-22 WRITE-IN ELECTION.
The History of Successful Congressional Write-In Candidates.
The Republican efforts to keep the CD-22 seat, recently vacated by former US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, face long odds. In US history, only five times has a general election to Congress been won by a write-in candidate. US Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina won as a write-in in 1954, but was already widely known and popular figure, having previously served as Governor, as the Dixiecrat candidate for President in 1948, and was a leader of the South’s resistance to integration (Brown v. Board of Education having been decided earlier that year).
The four House election victories that went to write-ins include Charles Curry Jr. (R-CA) in 1930. Curry’s father had held the seat and was running unopposed when he died. Curry Junior had no opponent on the ballot — but subsequently lost his primary for renomination just two years later. Little Rock Boad of Education Member Dale Alford (D-AR) won in 1958 as a write-in segregationist candidate, after incumbent Congressman Brooks Hays (D) — running without Republican opposition — expressed support for the integration of Little Rock’s Central High School. Former State Senator Joe Skeen (R-NM) won in 1980 when the unopposed incumbent Harold Runnels (D) died and the Democratic Governor twisted enough arms to get his nephew David King appointed as the replacement nominee, despite having no recent ties to the district. In a three way race — between King, write-in Republican Skeen and Runnels’ widow running as a Democratic write-in, Skeen edged King a 38% to 35% vote with Runnels getting the remainder. Two years later, Carlsbad Mayor Ron Packard (R-CA) was elected to Congress — and is the only write-in candidate ever to defeat the nominees of both the Democratic and Republican parties. Packard jumped into the race when many district Republicans were unhappy with Johnny Crean, the wealthy, plurality winner of the GOP primary. The district was heavily Republican.
The Impact of Texas Laws and Voting Technology on the CD-22 Race
It takes extra effort to cast a write-in ballot. The harder it is to vote for a write-in, the lesser the tendency for voters to do so. Most forms of machine or electronic tabulation use or generate paper products on which a name can be written. In same cases candidates are permitted to hand out stickers to be affixed to the ballot, which makes “write-in” voting even easier. But in Texas — pursuant to Texas Election Code, § 65.008 — votes cast by stickers will not be counted.
The electronic voting machines now being used also present new problems. The electronic machines used in some Texas countries, including two of the three in CD 22, requires a voter to cast a ballot for a write-in and then — after a prompt — type the person’s name onto the machine. In CD-22, only Galveston County votes without electronic voting machines — and fewer than a fifth of the precincts in that county are in CD-22. In fact, Galveston seemingly provides less than 10% of the total population of CD-22. The other two countries, Fort Bend and Harris (Houston) both use eSlate machines (click for an online flash demo of the machines, including how to cast a write-in vote). And, with the eSlate machines, there is no independent paper verification trail. In the case of this specific race, those seeking to cast ballots for the officially supported GOP write-in nominee will need to type in the name of Shelley Sekula-Gibbs — which won’t be exactly easy. Adding to the complications are rumors the Democrats plan to field a write-in candidate with the last name of Gibbs, so that any voters who merely write-in “Gibbs” would be voting for someone other than the GOP candidate.
Given the historical lack of overall success in write-in campaigns and the new technical hurdles in the race in CD-22, it seems likely that — despite the strong and well-financed efforts we can expect from the GOP — their odds for victory remain a long shot.
Writer: Yehuda Cohen - 08.19.06