Vote for None of the Above

David Gatchell, who has legally changed his middle name from Leroy to None of the Above, is running as an independent for governor in Tennessee and for the US Senate.

He wants his full legal name on the ballot but is getting some strong resistance from state election commissioners — they have unanimously voted to bar Gatchell’s unusual middle name from the ballots.

Elections commissioner Bobby Sands, who moved the motion against “None of the Above”, insists that since Gatchell doesn’t normally sign documents that way he has no reason to appear on the ballot under that name.

“He’s playing games with the ballot,” Sands said. “He has never used that name. What’s misleading is that we don’t have that option on the ballot.”

Gatchell, who has sued the commission, says he just wants to give voters a way to voice their displeasure with the people in politics. He claims the real problem is that his legal name is just too lengthy to fit on most documents.

“None of the Above” Gatchell says if he is elected under his full legal name in the elections, which are scheduled for next April, he will give voters a chance to pick another winner —excluding those on the original ballot, of course — by resigning and allowing for fresh elections.

If he succeeds, Gatchell may be the first candidate to face the polls as None of the Above but that option — abbreviated NOTA — has been a ballot choice in some jurisdictions in the United States and other parts of the world for some time. NOTA is placed on the ballot to allow the voter to indicate disapproval with all of the candidates in any voting system.

According to the on-line encyclopaedia Wikipedia, entities which include NOTA on ballot as standard procedure include the United States Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the US state of Nevada (None of these candidates), Russia and the Ukraine (Against all!) and Spain (votos en blanco).

There is the theoretical possibility of NOTA getting a majority of the votes cast.

If that happens, a series of formal procedures are invoked, including having the office remain vacant, having the office filled by appointment, re-opening nominations, or beginning the election process again.

In Nevada, the actual candidate with the greatest number of votes assumes office regardless of how many votes NOTA gets.

In elections where NOTA is not an option, a ballot is usually regarded as spoilt if the voter decides to cross the entire ballot paper, or leave it blank.

The NOTA option has attracted my interest mainly because that is how I feel about the current crop of politicians in Trinidad and Tobago.

I mean all the politicians — those who are in office, those who want to get in office, those who have been in office and want to get back. In my view, they are doing nothing to inspire confidence and saying a whole lot of things about their rivals and the state of this country which can only divide and deplete our country.

In fact, if an election were called tomorrow, with the people we are currently seeing and hearing so much of as the only candidates, I will cross their names off and write in NOTA! That is how strongly I feel about the state of politics in TT.

I don’t know whether our Elections and Boundaries Commission will ever consider adding NOTA as a ballot option for local and general elections in this country.

I will welcome it but will be very surprised if they do.What I do know, based on conversations I have had with friends, family and colleagues in recent times, is that a lot of people share my view. To all the politicians that are lining up to run for office we say, “None of the above!”

(ssheppard@newsday.co.tt)