Write-In Votes Could Help Decide Senate Race

Write-in votes could help decide Alabama’s Senate race between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones.

Sculptor Lee Busby is running as a write-in, along with several others, and University of Alabama football coaches like Nick Saban often get write-in votes in state elections.

The secretary of state’s office already is preparing for write-in votes by explaining the procedure used to count them.

The agency says such votes won’t be counted unless the total number of write-in ballots exceeds the difference between the two leading candidates. And the count wouldn’t be held until a week after election day, meaning the uncertainty could drag on.

At least one write-in vote already has been cast: Senator Richard Shelby says he wrote in the name of a “distinguished” Republican on an absentee ballot.

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