'It's okay to split your vote,' say election officials overseeing November General Election Tuesday

2008-10-30 / Front Page

After more than a month of early voting for Tuesday's presidential election, election officials and local candidates still want to remind voters that it's legal and perfectly normal to "split your vote" on the ballot - and there will be a list of write-in candidates on the ballot, too.

"It's okay to split your vote in the General Election," said Judge Jim Burton, Wilkes County's Supervisor of Elections. "You have to chose parties only in the primary."

Therefore, each voter's ballot will have all the names, Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian, and voters may vote for the whole party, or vote for each candidate, no matter which party. The ballot may also have candidates from other third parties and write-ins.

"You can vote for a Democrat for President and a Republican for Wilkes County Sheriff," Judge Burton said, "or a Republican for president and a Democrat for Sheriff. You can flip-flop back and forth voting for Republican or Democrat, whichever you want, all the way down the ballot. It's legal, and it's pretty common."

Also on this year's General Election ballot, there will be nine writein candidates for U.S. President, three for Vice President, and two for U.S. Senate.

Write-in candidates for President include Jonathan Allen, Chuck Baldwin, Brian Russell Brown, David C. Byrne, James Harris, Cynthia McKinney, Frank Moore, Ralph Nader, and Michael A. Peroutka. Write-in candidates for Vice President include Rosa Clemente, Alyson Kennedy, and Jeff Stath. Eleanor Garcia and William Salomone Jr. are write-in candidates for a Georgia Senate seat.

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