Drawing nonsense on my ballot?

So, my inner circle and I were grabbing coffee when we realized—apparently, none of us actually follow the standard procedure for marking ballots... 😵

Anyway, it sparked this debate: does the ballot still count? If you neatly circle a candidate's number and maybe scribble their name in the corner, is that invalid or what?

I did a quick search on Google for the official rules. Under the section regarding "invalid ballots," it basically just says your intent has to be clear. So, based on that, can we basically doodle whatever we want as long as they know who we voted for?

I ended up checking the boxes for both candidates and doodled a little baby onesie on the side—honestly, what can I say? When the artistic inspiration hits, it hits.😬

I just really hope they don't throw my ballot out for being invalid.🤷

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.

I went ahead and circled number 2. Honestly, where else are you going to find such ridiculous nonsense? 😳

Look, you can scribble or write whatever you want on that ballot, but if it’s blatantly obvious which single candidate or party you’re backing, the vote should count. Honestly, though? That depends entirely on who’s sitting behind the table at the polling station. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if certain districts or specific election boards just refused to accept it. In my experience, there are always those hyper-zealous types who go out of their way to invalidate any vote that doesn't favor their particular party, usually over the most trivial, ridiculous little technicality.

I remember how chaotic things got during the last US elections. It was absolute madness. You could end up with ten or twenty different ways to fill out a ballot where it still counts as valid—they actually hand out these little cheat sheets and diagrams showing all the "legal" combinations. So, you really have to watch what you're circling to make sure you don't accidentally trip over some obscure rule. 🙂