# Why do people write in joke votes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-write-in-joke-votes/756313>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [June 2, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-write-in-joke-votes/756313 "2016-06-02T15:17:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-write-in-joke-votes/756313/21 "2016-06-03T05:01:17Z")

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I suppose people do it because they’ve heard of other people doing it, and it seems funny. Or they don’t actually know the printed candidates well enough to pick one, or they don’t actually _like_ the printed candidates well enough to pick one, and it seems funny.

Or maybe it’s a form of angry refusal to endorse the major parties. I can’t speak for other countries, but you know that most Americans live in one-party districts and _maybe_ two-party states, right? To many of us, elections are a joke already.

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**Author:** ![Stately\_Greek\_Automaton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Stately\_Greek\_Automaton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stately_Greek_Automaton)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-write-in-joke-votes/756313/22 "2016-06-03T05:54:33Z")

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> [@Folly](#):
>
> However, depending on local election rules, you may be generating extra work for the pollworkers. Leaving the race blank and having it recorded as an ‘undervote’ should work just as well if you want to express your dissatisfaction with the candidates.

As was mentioned, that’s not nearly as fun though. If the benefits of increasing how efficiently the votes could be counted outweighed the somewhat intangible benefit of being able to put whatever you want in there, then I imagine you would probably hear some calls for that to be done. Has that been the case at all?

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**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-write-in-joke-votes/756313/23 "2016-06-03T08:02:35Z")

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How much did you have to drink before you went out to vote?

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**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-write-in-joke-votes/756313/24 "2016-06-03T08:17:19Z")

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I actually did this for my county’s Board of Education because of the three candidates running one was an “old-school” Republican who nonetheless supported charter schools, an even more enthusiastic charter school shill who also was arrested for charges of domestic violence, and a Michele Bachmann clone who vows to prevent the mandatory vaccination of children in schools. Accordingly I voted for [Mio Akiyama](http://k-on.wikia.com/wiki/Mio_Akiyama).

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