Recent polls show neither major presidential candidate has high favorability ratings right now. That could leave the door open for frustrated voters to write in candidates.
If Ohioans want to write in a candidate this fall, they could do that. But if they want that write in vote to count, the candidate they choose must have filed with the Secretary of State’s office to be a write in candidate. And at this point, the office says no one has filed to be a write in candidate statewide. But there is still time for someone to do that since the deadline for filing as a write in candidate is August 29th. While no write-in has ever won a presidential contest, there have been some big wins: for instance, the late former state Sen. Charlie Wilson was endorsed by the Democratic Party but failed to qualify for the 2006 primary for Ohio’s 6th Congressional district. But Wilson beat two others as a write-in candidate and went on to win Ted Strickland’s seat when he became governor.