Drawing nonsense on my ballot?
in Miscellaneous ·
Hey there! Just wanted to jump in and add my two cents... I’m always the one sketching out these wild scenarios in my head, convinced I’ve thought of everything. I’ve been working elections for about ten years now, even serving as a precinct captain, so I can tell you I’ve seen just about every weird thing imaginable. But here’s the bottom line: if the voter’s intent is clear—meaning they circled the number next to the candidate—the ballot counts. We definitely run into those confusing ones where people scribble all over the page, and then you have to take them into the county office for a formal review. For instance, I once saw a ballot where someone crossed out a candidate entirely, which is way more complicated than what happened recently with a voter who circled the name but also scribbled "ink blot" right next to it. Look, I deal with all sorts of chaos, but at the end of the day, if you can clearly tell who they meant to vote for, that ballot stays valid.