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Monroe County shortens Democratic 'vote for' language to fit local ballots
Summary
Elections staff said the Democratic State Committee provided long candidate-selection language that cannot fit in local ballot fields; Monroe County will use a shorter 'vote for not more than three' formulation and staff explained how machine counting treats multiple same-gender votes.
Monroe County elections staff told the board that the Democratic State Committee supplied lengthy candidate-selection language that many counties cannot fit into ballot fields.
An elections official said the state Department of State circulated a memo and a sample, but the county—s voting system cannot accommodate the full text. "Since we can't fit all of that on ours, we're going to do what almost all the other counties are doing ... just put 'vote for not more than three, electing one male, one female, one either gender,'" the official said.
Board members asked what happens if a voter selects three candidates all of the same gender. The official said the machines do not recognize gender; they count votes for the highest vote-getters and the gender-based provision affects how seats are allocated after counting, not how the machine reads the ballot. "The machine doesn't know who's male and female," the staff member said.
Board members agreed the shorter language is clearer for voters and noted that the state told counties to use the short or long form depending on whether the full wording fits. The board did not record a formal roll-call vote on the wording change but agreed to follow the common short form used by other counties.
The board asked staff to notify parties and continue coordinating with the Department of State on final ballot text if further guidance arrives.
