If you live and vote in the City of San Diego you’ll see something on your ballot that may come as a surprise, a space for write-in candidates. The city does not allow write-in options in the general election, and the space was placed on the ballot by mistake. County Registrar of Voters' Deborah Seiler said the option should be ignored.
“There are no write-ins allowed and they will not be counted if cast,” she said.
Seiler said she doesn’t think the write-in option should cause too much trouble because there are no active write-in campaigns going on. She said the city did not confirm the registrar should remove the write-in spaces before the ballot had to go to the printer. But the San Diego City Clerk said she's comfortable and confidant the city made it clear no write-in option was available for San Diego.
In 2004, former Councilwoman Donna Frye ran a write-in campaign for mayor during the general election. She received a majority of votes, but a court ultimately ruled she was not the winner because of problems with the way voters filled out her name on the ballot. Following that, the city changed its municipal code to forbid write-in candidates during the general election.
