Kyle Sefcik on the Ballot....as a Write-in
Unaffiliated candidate failed to submit enough petition signatures to make the ballot
Independent candidate for governor Kyle Sefcik posted on his Facebook page Thursday that he received his Certificate of Candidacy in his campaign for governor.
It isn’t the first time he made the claim.
The implication is that Sefick’s petition to make the ballot was accepted by the Maryland State Board of Elections. But that is not accurate.
Sefick’s campaign did not submit the required number of signatures to make the ballot. The Certificate of Candidacy he received was as a write-in candidate, for which he and his running mate filed on Thursday.
Sefcik finally acknowledged his write-in status yesterday:
Amusingly, Sefcick says that he “had to do more than any other candidate to make it to the general election due to the fact that I am not affiliated to any political party.” But to make the ballot as a write-in candidate, you merely have to fill out the appropriate forms. There isn’t even a filing fee to run as a write-in.
Sefcik isn’t even the only independent candidate running for Governor. Alabama, Alaska, Illinois, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wisconsin all have independent candidacies actually on the ballot. That does not count other states which have independent candidates for Governor who like Sefcik are running as write-ins.
Official counts for official write-in candidacies tell us the obvious; that Sefcik faces a long uphill climb.
2002 Ralph Jaffe, 201 votes
2002: James Lynch, 61 votes
2006: John Simmins, 258 votes
2014: Charles Smith, 61 votes
2006 Ralph Jaffe, 16 votes
2010: Ralph Jaffe, 319 votes
2010: Corrogan Vaughan, 179 votes
2014: Charles Smith, 283 votes
2014: Ed Tinus, 20 votes
The highest vote total of any write-in this century is only 319 votes.
I’m not sure exactly what Sefcik is trying to accomplish by implying he qualified for the ballot or by outright lying about being “the only unaffiliated candidate in the country” That Dan Cox won the primary takes away a lot of his potential voters. But the idea that Sefcik could not garner enough signatures to make the ballot speaks volumes.