Texas: is District 22 ready for the big spelling test?
The TPMmuckraker.com reports: After Tom DeLay dropped out last week, the Texas GOP was forced to try a Hail Mary, throwing their support behind a write-in candidate. But the candidate's name -- Shelley Sekula-Gibbs -- may be a problem.
In short, the Republican strategy is now this: tens of thousands of GOP voters will go to the polls on November 7, ignore the names printed on the ballot, and write in a hyphenated name of 20 characters (counting spaces). A long shot, for sure -- as the AP noted, only four candidates in U.S. electoral history have ever succeeded with a write-in campaign.
But it gets trickier. Voters in Texas' 22nd District will use the eSlate electronic voting machine. I decided to take it for a test drive and experience the thrill of democracy myself -- which you can do on Hart Intercivic's website. -- TPMmuckraker August 22, 2006 04:52 PM
Comment: I had been wondering about how much trouble the voters might have spelling the name of Dr. Sekula-Gibbs and how the actual "writing in" would be done. Thanks to TPM for telling us.