This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Washington • Some Utah voters are so disillusioned with the major party presidential nominees that they plan to write in someone else — even if their votes won't be counted.
Mitt Romney, Daffy Duck or "ANYONE else" are, for some voters, preferable choices to Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
"There should be a 'do-over' clause if neither candidate is a viable option," says Tebbin Salvesen, an unaffiliated voter from Salt Lake City. "It is becoming a choice of who do you most want to vote against, rather than who you want to vote for."
Salvesen views Clinton as a professional politician far removed from the average American while Trump is a "wealthy tycoon" who lives off the hard work of others.
While not a scientific sampling, The Salt Lake Tribune asked readers through its partnership with American Public Media's Public Insight Network if they were going to skip the buttons for Trump or Clinton in this year's election and type in their own choice. More than three dozen responded.
Anecdotally, it seems more people than in recent years are inclined to toss their vote to someone who isn't even running in this election. The only write-in votes that are counted are those cast for write-in candidates registered with the state.
For Midvale resident Gloria Arriaga, it doesn't matter to her that her vote won't count. She's casting her vote for 2012 presidential contender Mitt Romney, now a Utah resident.
Why?
"Because I am Republican but I will never support Trump. He is obviously a dangerous egomaniac that is not qualified to be president of the United States," she said. "He can't make America great again because America is great already and will always be great."
Laurie Densley, also a Republican, says she too will type in Romney's name. She knows it won't count but because of the Electoral College, she believes Trump will get Utah's votes anyway.
"I cannot, in good conscience, vote for Clinton or Trump," Densley said. "I think Mitt Romney is trustworthy and would be a great president."
A spokeswoman for Romney, who has called Trump a "phony, a fraud," did not respond to a request for comment about voters writing in his name. Romney has not said for whom he will vote.
Tim Miller, a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee and a leader in the "Never Trump" movement, noted he was personally considering writing in James Madison.
But, Miller adds, "There is something to be said for encouraging the diversification of parties and voting for a third party like the Libertarians rather than writing in" someone because such a move would help such third parties keep their spots on future ballots.
"One thing is for sure — anything, including a write-in — is far, far superior than voting for someone as unfit to be president as Donald Trump," Miller said. "I think it reflects well on Utahns that it's a rare state where conservatives overwhelmingly are standing on principle against a fraud like Trump."
A Salt Lake Tribune poll in June showed Trump and Clinton tied at 35 percent of the vote with Libertarian Gary Johnson nabbing 13 percent in Utah.
More recent polls have shown Trump with a double-digit lead over Clinton in the state but still below 50 percent of the vote. Independent candidate Evan McMullin, a conservative Provo native who graduated from Brigham Young University, recently qualified for the ballot in Utah and was not part of the previous polls.
Some Utahns are a bit more glib in whom they say they'll vote for. Scott Christian Bauer may write in Daffy Duck.
"If Hillary Clinton has a realistic chance of winning Utah, I'll definitely vote for her," he said. "But if not, Daffy Duck it is! In Utah, voting for anyone other than the Republican nominee is usually a wasted vote anyway, given the Electoral College."
Utah last voted for a Democrat in 1964, when Lyndon Johnson beat Barry Goldwater in a landslide.
Ron Fox, a Utah historian and author who is supporting Trump, says writing in someone is a waste of a good ballot.
"Your vote is a sacred thing guaranteed by the Constitution," Fox said. "To throw it away in a meaningless effort is not productive for our society at all."
However, Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics, says such votes can send an important message to the major parties.
"If a large portion of our population writes in, or votes for a third party, it is a call to the [major] parties to recognize that there is a segment of their population that shows up to vote but is not supportive of their candidates," Perry said. Republicans and Democrats would do well to remember those messages in putting forward candidates in future races.
And Perry dismissed the idea that a write-in vote doesn't count in the end.
"The only throwaway vote," he said, "is one where you don't show up."