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PLAIN CITY, Weber County — A Plain City man is trying to convince the Republican National Committee to launch a national write-in campaign for Mitt Romney as president of the United States by starting a petition on change.org.
As of Tuesday evening, more than 15,000 people had signed Mark Lacy’s petition.
“At this late date there is no candidate other than former Governor Mitt Romney who has the name recognition, campaign experience, known personal values, and proven executive qualifications with a reasonable chance of winning enough votes to be elected President by way of such a dramatic and historically significant campaign,” Lacy wrote in the petition. “Only if the Republican National Committee (RNC) launches an immediate national write-in campaign for Mitt Romney as President does the Republican Party have a hope of keeping Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton from being elected President.”
Mark Thomas, director of elections with the lieutenant governor's office said at this point in the election, even if the petition got one million signatures, it won’t make a difference.
“Ballots are headed out in the mail, and some ballots have already been sent out. People have already voted, so yeah, to try and add candidates at this point, yeah it’s just not realistic,” he said.
In order to be a write-in candidate in the state of Utah, the person whose name would be on the ballot needs to fill out and sign a declaration of candidacy and submit it no later than 60 days before the general election, according to Thomas.
If someone does write in the name of a person who is not a qualified candidate, the vote for that person does not count. The rest of their ballot will be counted, if it is correct, Thomas said.
To see a list of candidates for the upcoming election, visit elections.utah.gov.
