Maine barred Donald Trump from the primary ballot Thursday, making it the second state in the country to block the former president from running again under a part of the Constitution that prevents insurrectionists from holding office.

The decision by Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) is sure to be appealed. The Colorado Supreme Court last week found Trump could not appear on the ballot in that state, and the Colorado Republican Party has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. The nation’s high court could resolve for all states whether Trump can run again.

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  • @[email protected]
    2•11 months ago

    What if two people with the same name are sort of politically active (not on ballot) and you write a name down, which one gets the vote?

    And what if I come up with a meme to vote for some random person, and people copy that and all vote for someone who unknowingly wins.

    I’m interested if they have protocols for these (unlikely, but possible) scenarios.

    • Natanael
      4•11 months ago

      That varies. Usually they’re expected to include distinguishers, if it’s unclear then the two candidates can end up challenging how they’re counted. It’s not unheard of that they’re split evenly but they try to look at clues. Stuff like party affiliation can be used as clues, as well as any included titles, etc.

      If it’s a random who didn’t enter the election at all it’s likely to not count as a valid vote (especially because of your previous question where it can’t be certain all voters mean the same person with that name). If it’s a previously anonymous person with a unique name entering the election in time they’re likely to get all the votes in their name even if the voters did it as a joke and perhaps didn’t even know such a person entered. If the writing on the vote doesn’t make it clear it’s intended to be invalid it will count.

      Also, crude measures like an even split is more common if the count of ambiguous votes are too few to change the election result, but if it’s too close then it can end up with a forced new election

      • @[email protected]
        1•11 months ago

        Very interesting, thanks! And I’d guess that if it’s like a celebrity who gets mass voted on, without him/her knowing or agreeing and wins, they could easily just say they’re not up to the task, minus peer-pressure. In theory if they’d get all the votes, the elections should be done once more.

        But if people insist and again only vote on this celebrity, could that person explicitly upfront claim not to be a valid vote?