Imagine this- you are headed into the voting booth at your local precinct with your mind made up on who you will vote for. Let’s call your preferred choice Candidate A. You like Candidate A because you paid a little attention to the race, or maybe you even mustered up the effort to do the minimal amount of research on your own before voting. Either way, you are sure Candidate A will represent you well if elected. But then, out of nowhere, you see CANDIDATE B on the ballot. You’re intrigued. Candidate A looks so plain and boring next to CANDIDATE B. You immediately second guess the information you obtained during the race. You start to think that CANDIDATE B is the better choice, after all those ALL CAPS look very convincing. So you give in to the authoritative qualities of CANDIDATE B and their ALL CAPS spelling and cast your vote for CANDIDATE B over your once preferred Candidate A.
Now how likely is that?
Probably not too likely. But here is a more plausible scenario- you are headed into the voting booth at your local precinct with your mind made up on who you will vote for in the senate and/or congressional race in your district. You have paid no attention to the city council races and you, frankly, don’t care about local elections. You see the names and pick the ALL CAPS candidate over the regular spelled out candidates because you’re an idiot those names stand out more. And in low turnout elections, every vote really does matter.
Case in point, Hopewell, Virginia is facing this ALL CAPS problem. Three local candidates wrote their names on their election paperwork using ALL CAPS. The other candidates didn’t. The new registrar followed the paperwork to a T and the Hopewell Electoral Board voted 2-1 to keep the ALL CAPS candidates on the ballot as is. The State Board of Elections may have to step in to correct this and at least one of the regular spelling candidates may pursue legal action for a uniform ballot.
Ballots should present the names of candidates in a uniform way. No name should be printed in a way that gives it more attention. And, more importantly, the way the name appears should not sway any voter in any way. But we need to idiot-proof the process. Too many voters come to the polls with too little information.
In light of this story I have decided to run for elected office. My name will appear on the ballot as THE BEST CANDIDATE IN THE RACE. I will spend no money and will not actually campaign. After all, who doesn’t vote for the best candidate in the race? Clearly listing myself as THE BEST CANDIDATE IN THE RACE ought to be enough.
More on Hopewell’s dilemma from Richmond Times-Dispatch.
.