People don’t take write-in candidates seriously.
The very notion of running on a write-in basis smacks of desperation, or worse, an inability to mobilize — not exactly a message politicians want to send to voters. And even write-in campaigns with big names, like Ralph Nader’s 1992 write-in candidacy in the New Hampshire primaries, aren’t guaranteed wins.
For example, in UF’s Spring 2013 Student Government elections, write-in candidates included “Charles Barkley,” “Barack Obama,” “Tim Tebow and Jesus,” “Ronald Reagan,” “Hulk Hogan,” “GUcci Swag,” “Nicolas Cage,” “Charmander,” “Batman” and “Butt-Head.”
Other, more tongue-in-cheek write-ins included, “This s**t is stupid,” and “Idiotic Waste of Money.”
“Great attitude, awesome charisma and very well-rounded person” was another notable UF write-in — maybe they thought the ballot was a Chick-Fil-A comment card?
Members of the much-talked-about Taco Libre Party at UF, with its single goal to bring Taco Bell back to the Reitz Union, may now be reduced to a write-in campaign after the party’s VP candidate failed to properly fill out necessary paperwork. Now, only the Taco Libre treasurer candidate will be on the ticket.
While we normally would prefer to hold the party that fails to do its paperwork accountable, the idea of Swamp Party running unopposed is a tough pill to swallow. For the sake of checks and balances, a deadline extension in this situation doesn’t seem out of line.
In the meantime, the write-in campaign is a risky move. After all, you’re asking a Student Body of thousands to correctly spell “Stephanie Kreitzer” on a ballot — the same Student Body that includes people who couldn’t spell Carly Rae Jepsen correctly as a write-in during last year’s election.
At the end of the day, are fringe movements — in the context of UF politics — worth the effort? Was the Taco Libre Party meant to be a statement about the way Student Government is run? While it may seem like a stretch to give the Taco Libre Party this much credit, it’s very likely that its single-platform approach was meant to be less an attempt to bring Taco Bell back and more a comment on the ridiculousness of the Swamp Party’s reign over UF. But we have serious doubts about the success of a brand-new party that has to fall back on running a write-in campaign. Was the Taco Libre Party, then, all for nothing?
If Taco Libre is meant to be an anti-establishment statement, it’s a novel but ineffective tactic. Like past fringe movements, such as the often-mocked and dubiously named “The Rent is Too Damn High” Party, it’s destined to fade away unless its leaders take serious steps to mobilize and gain momentum.
For now, all we can assume is that Taco Libre is just a blip on the UF radar. In the end, it was all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
[A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 2/11/2014 under the headline "Taco Libre write-in campaign idea is doomed"]
