Brown focuses on write-in campaign
Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 24, 2002
The battle may have been lost, but the war still isn’t over.
This saying could apply to LaTosha Brown, who despite losing through official voting counts to Yusuf Salaam in the state House of Representatives District 67 Democratic run-off, has decided to focus her efforts on a write-in campaign in the Nov. 5 general election.
Selma attorney April England-Albright, who is one of the coordinators for the write-in campaign, said that while Brown’s name will not appear on the general election ballot, those who wish to can still vote for Brown.
Albright said there is an extra
space at the bottom of the ballot where voters can write in the name of the candidate they wish to vote for. In addition to writing in the name, voters must also place a check mark in the box beside the space to indicate a vote for that candidate.
Nor do voters have to worry about getting the name exactly right when they choose to vote for a write-in candidate. A vote for L. Brown, for example, will be counted the same as a vote for LaTosha Brown.
Albright said that although Salaam has been declared the official Democratic Party District 67 candidate, the contest is far from over.
Albright explained why she felt Brown would win.
She said that most of Brown’s votes during the District 67 run-off came from predominately African-American precincts. She said Salaam, on the other hand, received most of his votes from predominately white precincts.
Albright predicted that the &uot;white vote&uot; would be split between Salaam and Republican candidate Mark Story, with Brown, as a write-in candidate, receiving the largest percentage of the black vote. Since black voters outnumber white voters in District 67, Albright said that makes a victory for Brown possible.
While rare, it is not unheard of for write-in candidates to win a general election. Albright noted that Washington, D. C., Mayor Anthony Williams won as a write-in candidate after previously being kicked-off the ballot for campaign violations.
Said Albright, &uot;I think there is a good chance that she [Brown] can also win.&uot;