Month: April 2025

It all started innocently enough – all I wanted was to see what is coming up election-wise in 2025. As I bowed out as an election official, I am no longer on the list to be notified of upcoming events. As a side note, I also wanted to find out how easy it is to get on a ballot. What I learned shocked me to my core.

Let’s start with the easy part – you want to run for office? Good luck finding out anything on your own. Here’s a hint – you’ll need signatures and you’ll need to get them in on time. Want to know more? Dig. Dig deep because this sort of information is NOT readily or easily available. I’m sure if you belong to one of the two “major” parties in Virginia, someone will know all this. They might even help you – IF you are a party member and IF they like you. If you don’t toe the party BOSSES line, you may want to rethink things.

Notice I didn’t say the “party line”. Why did I put it that way? Simple. There’s the “official platform” and there’s “the way we do things around here”. Don’t ask me for chapter and verse. For one thing, it doesn’t exist. For another I only had the slightest hint of a taste before I spit the whole thing out. Officially I’m still a “member in good standing” in “my” party. Unofficially, I’m done with those jerks. Note I am NOT talking about the local party members – the rank and file or even the local “bosses”. I consider the local party chair a good man and a good friend. I’m talking about the entrenched leadership in the ivory towers – the political slicksters that actually run the show – any way they see fit.

Moving on to that “stacked deck”, lemme tell ya – it smells to high heaven. I’ve passed pig farms with sweeter odors. It all started with a simple little sentence on the Virginia Department of Elections website:

Instructions for Potential Write-In Candidates

Write-in Candidates for all offices except President are not required to file any ballot access documents, however, will need to be in compliance with Campaign Finance requirements.

How generous. So where does the link above lead to? The “Campaign Finance” page where one is overwhelmed with stuff about tracking and reporting one’s activities. I did not find ONE WORD about “write in” candidates there. Nothing.

Finally, I followed the Campaign Finance Laws and Policies link. Close, but no cigar. It wasn’t until I followed the Candidate Campaign Committee Summary of Laws and Policies link when I finally came across some useful information. Again, it doesn’t talk about “write in” candidates, just “local” candidates. I did not find any handy definition of who qualifies as “local” either. What I did find, finally was this golden nugget:

Section 2.4 – Exempt Candidates

Candidates for local office may file a request for exemption from filing campaign finance reports if:

• They do not intend to solicit or accept any contribution from any other person or political committee during the course of the campaign;

• Will not contribute more than $1,000 of their own personal money during the course of the campaign;

• Will not expend more than $1,000 of their own personal money during the course of the campaign; and

• That they will comply with all requirements of the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act.

Candidates that qualify for an exemption are still required to establish a campaign depository. All deposits and all expenditures from the depository are funded from the candidate’s $1,000. The only exception is that the exempt candidate may pay the Virginia Department of Elections for a “Registered Voter List” and/or a “List of Those Who Voted” with a check drawn from his/her own personal account. The money spent on the list(s) must be tracked and included in the campaign’s records for confirmation that the $1,000 exemption threshold is not exceeded.

Example: Exempt Candidate X puts $960 of her own money into her campaign account. She then spends $50 of her own money on a voter list. Candidate X is no longer an exempt candidate since she has exceeded the $1,000 personal funding threshold by $10.

Taking all this in I had to ask – what happens if a write-in candidate is elected to an office – any office?

Further digging on my part (you are welcome) suggests fines may be assessed for those failing to file or file properly. Could their election also be challenged? I wonder. I don’t know. It has never happened as far as I know.

As someone who despises paperwork almost as much as I despise bureaucracy, all this rubs me the wrong way. A citizen should not be required to doggie paddle through a sea of regulations to run a write-in campaign. Yeah, I know what the intent is. The political world is jam-packed with slimeballs lurking in every dark corner. Heck, one even made it into the Oval Office. I get that. Trouble is, I have yet to see a single law passed that has prevented any of it. Nor have they stopped any so-called “public servants” from accumulating million-plus dollar bankrolls while getting by on civil paychecks.

In a more perfect world, ALL candidates for ALL offices would be independent, if not write-in. Political parties would not exist. Period. Career politicians would not exist. Period. To that end, I would love to see more citizens step up to challenge the status quo. Realistically, I don’t see this happening on a statewide or federal level. It could happen locally. Indeed it has happened right here in Virginia, one of the best examples being Nick Freitas’ write-in victory as the State Delegate for the Culpeper, VA area. Should anyone decide to give it a go, be sure to keep track of the money spent and/or submit the required campaign reporting documentation. So far my understanding is it is not all that difficult, however much it is a pain and a bother.