McMullin qualifies as presidential write-in candidate
By State House News Service | September 12, 2016, 7:04 EDT
Evan McMullin, a former CIA operative heading a long-shot bid for the presidency as a conservative alternative to Republican Donald Trump, will be able to pick up Bay State votes in November though he will not appear on the ballot.
A spokesman for Secretary of State William Galvin told the News Service that on Friday, McMullin’s campaign filed a slate of 11 electors with Galvin’s office to make McMullin a write-in candidate.
The move means write-in votes for McMullin will be counted rather than marked “other,” according to spokesman Brian McNiff.
The only candidates appearing on the ballot will be Democrat Hillary Clinton and her running mate Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine; Trump and his running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence; Libertarian Gary Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld; and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka.
A late entrant into the 2016 contest, McMullin reportedly hit a snag on his ticket, penciling in the unknown Nathan Johnson as his running mate with plans to swap him out for a more considered choice, although that is not possible in many states.
Politico quoted McMullin’s chief communications officer Rick Wilson as saying, of Johnson, “I don’t personally know the guy. He’s somebody that they vetted as a placeholder. That’s all it is.”
— Written by Andy Metzger
Copyright State House News Service