ATLANTA — Voters weary of candidates who have beat each other up in television ads for months may be glad to know there are actually more options when it’s time to cast a ballot.That’s because there are more than a dozen other candidates to consider beyond those on the voting-machine screen. Twelve men and two women have qualified to be write-in candidates with the secretary of state.
So, if you’re tired of hearing Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn go at each other, and you’re not impressed with the stance of Libertarian Amanda Swafford, you still have three additional candidates to choose from for the U.S. Senate seat. Brian Russell Brown, Anantha Reddy Muscu and Mary H. Schroder hope you’ll consider their qualifications.
Indian native Muscu, for instance, has degrees in computers, civil engineering and strategic management, and he’s been an American citizen since 1994.”I am a complete outsider to the current currency-political system and previously had no career or interest in politics; however, I always wanted to serve America and be more than an individual citizen,” he says on his campaign website. “I like serving you and the country and getting the job done and not the politics for self service.”
Brown, on the other hand, is no political newcomer. He’s been an unsuccessful write-in candidate in 2010 and 2008 in other uphill attempts to win a Senate seat.
Schroder is fulfilling a promise made to her mother, according to the classified add each write-in candidate is required to run to qualify.
“My mother died on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Peachtree Creek. (Her grandfather fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War), and I told her I would run in the Senate race,” the ad said.
The ads had to run by Sept. 2 and an affidavit on them had to be included in the paperwork filed by Sept. 8. There’s no fee, but candidates have to be eligible for the offices they seek. People can even file on behalf of someone else. However, candidates who lost in the primary can’t mount a write-in campaign.
“Write in candidates almost never have an impact on elections,” said Daniel Franklin, a political science professor at Georgia State University. “The number of votes they siphon off from the ballot listed candidates is rarely significant.”
The full list of qualified write-in candidates is available at every polling place on request. Only their votes will be counted, not those for Mickey Mouse, Pat Paulsen or Joe Walsh.
Qualification is to save the hassle of keeping track of joke ballots. So, in 2012, there is no official tally of the votes cast for Charles Darwin when Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., was running unopposed for re-election.
The Athens Banner-Herald reported that about 4,000 people wrote in the late scientist’s name as a form of protest against Broun’s statement that Darwin’s theory of evolution was a lie “straight from the pits of hell.”
Among the 14 candidates this year are David C. Byrne, Matthew Jamison and Chancey Andrell Porter for governor and Billy Woods for state superintendent of schools. The rest are running for congressional or legislative races around the state.
Generally, write-in candidates collect no campaign contributions, air no ads and never get invited to political forums.
“I think the public gives write in candidates the appropriate amount of attention,” Franklin said. “I think most people would agree that if a person is serious about running for office, they will do the advance planning necessary and make the commitment to qualify for the ballot.”
Follow Walter Jones on Twitter @MorrisNews and Facebook or contact him at walter.jones@morris.com.
