revised 10/21/96 (after checking with the County Clerk)

  How to Write-In Ralph Nader & Winona LaDuke in Michigan


NOTE: Do NOT select the straight party option!  This would
automatically select someone other than Ralph for President.

   The basic info you must get onto your write-in is the candidate's
name and the office: RALPH NADER, PRESIDENT.  You can also put the
Party (GREEN), but I'm not sure what good that serves (other than it
might result in the statewide tally making note of it), since the
Green Party is not YET a recognized party in Michigan.

   You can also write in the Vice President's name (WINONA LADUKE),
but it is not necessary, since the VP automatically goes with the Pres
(for instance, it is impossible to vote for Dole/Gore). If you come to
one of our many meetings, you can even pick up pre-printed stickers
with the necessary info on them, so you can just stick it on your
ballot and not even have to spell.

There are 4 ballot systems in use around Michigan:

1) The big old machine with the big lever and curtains.
 Write-in: Find the little "secret" slider compartment ABOVE the
 President/VP options.  Open this and write in Ralph Nader on the
 slip of paper that you find.

2) The small card that you poke holes in and place in a letter size
envelope.
 Write-in: The envelope has blank lines for write-ins.  Just put the
 "RALPH NADER, PRESIDENT" info in any of those blanks.

3) The big card that you mark your selections on, place in folder, and
hand to the official to be fed immediately into the scanning machine.
 Write-in: On the ballot card itself, just look at the bottom of the
 list of presidential candidates and you will find a blank line for a
 write-in.  Put the "RALPH NADER, PRESIDENT" info there.

4) Absentee ballots.  This should work like #3 above.

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Following is the official blurb from the Michigan election law:

168.706 Official ballot; plan; instructions.

  Sec. 706. The arrangement of the ballot containing the names of 
candidates for office shall conform as nearly as possible to the 
following plan, and shall contain the specific instructions there 
set forth and no others:

                       OFFICIAL BALLOT

    County of .................. Date ...........................

  INSTRUCTIONS - To vote a straight party ticket make a cross (X) 
or check mark ( ) in the circle under the name of your party. 
Nothing further need be done. To vote for a candidate not on your 
party ticket, make a cross (X) or a check mark (û) in the square 
[ ] before the candidate's name. Candidates for president and 
vice-president must be voted for as a unit, and the vote cannot 
be split. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor must be 
voted for as a unit, and the vote cannot be split.

  If 2 or more candidates are to be elected to the same office 
and you desire to vote for candidates not on your party ticket, 
make a cross (X) or a check mark (û) in the square [ ] before the 
names of the candidates for whom you desire to vote on the other 
ticket, and strike out an equal number of names on your party 
ticket, for that office.

  If you do not desire to vote any party ticket, do not make a 
cross (X) or check mark (û) in the circle at the head of any 
ticket, but make a cross (X) or a check mark (û) in the square [ ] 
before the name of each candidate for whom you desire to vote.

  If you wish to vote for a candidate not on any ticket, write or 
place the name of that candidate on your ballot opposite the name 
of the office. Before leaving the booth, fold the ballot so that 
the face of the ballot is not exposed and so that the numbered 
corner is visible.


168.782a Voting machines; voting for more write-in candidates 
  than space on machine, procedure.
  Sec. 782a. If any voter wishes to vote for more write-in 
candidates than there are spaces upon the voting machine or for 
any person whose name is not on the machine or for any 
combination of names that cannot be voted with the machine, the 
following procedure shall be followed:
  (a) The voter shall notify an election inspector of the 
situation.
  (b) The election inspector shall tell the voter to clear the 
voting machine, in secret, of all votes including write-ins that 
the voter has attempted to cast.
  (c) The voter shall advise the election inspector when he has 
cleared the machine.
  (d) Not less than 2 election inspectors who shall not be of the 
same political party shall then inspect the machine to determine 
whether it is cleared, and if not, shall proceed to clear the 
machine, including the write-in slots.
  (e) The election inspectors shall then operate the appropriate 
voting machine mechanism to prepare the machine for the next 
voter.
  (f) The election inspectors shall make a notation of the facts 
in the poll book and shall initial the notation.
  (g) The election inspectors shall provide the voter with a 
complete set of paper ballots identical to the paper ballots used 
by absentee voters in that precinct, and shall also provide the 
voter with an unsealed envelope in which to deposit the ballots.
  (h) The voter shall mark his ballots, in secrecy, and deposit 
them in the envelope provided, seal the envelope and hand the 
sealed envelope to an election inspector.
  (i) The election inspector shall commingle the envelope with 
absentee ballot return envelopes of the precinct, if any.
  (j) The envelopes and ballots shall be called, tallied and 
processed in the same manner as absentee ballots.
  (k) If any paper ballots are cast under the provisions of this 
section in any municipality using absent voter counting 
precincts, the chairman of the election board in the precinct 
where the ballots were cast shall immediately upon the close of 
the polls notify the clerk of the governmental unit of such fact 
and the clerk shall cause the ballots to be transmitted to the 
absent voter counting precinct.
  History: Add. 1966, Act 62, Imd. Eff. June 9, 1966.