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Voters Considering Writing In Presidential Candidates Cautioned About Important Note

Warren County Board of Elections

This weekend brought out a tape of Republican nominee Donald Trump making lewd and potentially criminal allegations about interactions with women and a Wikileaks dump of Wall Street speeches by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. And those revelations have some Ohioans reconsidering their presidential vote.  But there are rules on how to vote for candidates not on the ballot.

When US Sen. Rob Portman said he won’t vote Trump for president, he said he’d write in Trump’s running mate Mike Pence. Secretary of State spokesman Josh Eck has some advice for anyone considering writing in their presidential vote. “If you write in a name that isn’t actually a filed write-in candidate, then your vote in that race won’t count," Eck said. "But the rest of your ballot will still count.”

There are 18 filed write in candidates – at least six are from Ohio, including teacher Ben Hartnell of Westerville near Columbus, Mt. Vernon business owner Bruce Jaynes, handyman Joe Schriner of Bluffton and security officer and inventor Michael Bickelmeyer of Parma.

Here's the full list of filed write-ins (confirmed Ohioans are in bold):

James Bell, Michael Bickelmeyer, Darrell Castle, Cherunda Fox, Ben Hartnell, Tom Hoefling, Bruce Jaynes, Chris Keniston, Barry Kirschner, Laurence Kotlikoff, Joseph Maldonado, Michael Maturen, Evan McMullin, Monica Moorehead, Joe Schriner, Mike Smith, Josiah Stroh and Douglas Thomson

Contact Karen at 614-578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.
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