This image of cartoon character Donald Duck was created by the Thurston County Auditor's Office as part of its efforts to inform the public on the cost of write-in candidates.
Mickey Mouse didn’t file to run for any offices this election season, and officials with Lewis and Thurston counties are asking voters not to write him in as a candidate either.
The same goes for Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo.
Ballots for the Aug. 4 primary election went out on Wednesday, and any returned with write-ins of fictional characters will cost the canvassing boards extra time and taxpayer money.
Lewis County Elections Supervisor Mariann Zumbuhl told The Chronicle whenever the write-in box is marked, the computer stops and canvassing board clerks have to check the write-in and not count it if it’s a fictional character.
“So yeah it’s a lot of work for the canvassing board clerks because they have to individually go to each write in and either write in the name or select the unregistered for the cartoon characters,” Zumbuhl said.
She said if the write-in name is obviously fictitious — like Donald Duck — the clerks just don’t accept it. But if they get a write-in for names like John Doe, for example, they would type the name into the system.
Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall said in a press release that residents who don’t want to vote for someone in a race should leave it blank and that votes for other races will count.
“Processing fictitious ballot write-ins costs taxpayers’ money,” she said. “If you complete the oval, there is no need to write in their name.”
Zumbuhl said the Lewis County has been seeing more fictional character write-ins since it switched to paper ballots instead of punch cards because it is easier to write-in.
Thurston County has also made a public service announcement video about the issue at https://youtu.be/2vVioK7cFio.
Formal write-in declarations for both counties were due on Friday.
