Editing Write-in candidate (section)

==Contrast from a blank ballot election system==
[[File:Presidentinvaalit 2018 - äänestyslippu.jpg|alt=A blank ballot piece of folded card with an empty circle printed on the right-side were voter have to write the unique number assigned to their preferred candidate.|thumb|[[2018 Finnish presidential election]] ballot]]
The term "write-in candidate" is used in elections in which names of candidates or parties are '''preprinted''' on a paper ballot or displayed on an electronic voting machine. The term is not generally used in elections in which all ballots are blank and thus all voters must write in the names of their preferred candidates. Blank ballot election systems reduce the cost of printing the ballots, but increase the complexity of casting and counting votes. Such systems are [[elections in Japan|used in Japan]],<ref name="Cox2016">{{cite journal|last1=Cox|first1=Karen E.|first2=Leonard J. |last2=Schoppa|year=2016|title=Interaction Effects in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems|journal=Comparative Political Studies |quote=Japanese voters receive a blank ballot paper and are instructed to write down the name of an SMD candidate after examining a sheet posted on the wall of their voting booth. This list gives the names of all candidates along with the names of the party that submitted the candidate's name. |volume=35|issue=9|pages=1027–1053 : 1038|issn=0010-4140|doi=10.1177/001041402237505|citeseerx=10.1.1.555.9675|s2cid=154631760}}</ref> and were used in the past in the [[French Second Republic]]<ref name="Schaffer2008">{{cite book|last=Schaffer|first=Frederic Charles|title=The Hidden Costs of Clean Election Reform|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WOeXMUepNfcC&pg=PA49|access-date=May 11, 2018|year=2008|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=9780801441158|pages=49, fn. 32}}</ref> and in [[elections in the Philippines]] from [[World War II]] until the [[2010 Philippine general election|2010 general election]].<ref name="Schaffer2016">{{cite journal|last=Schaffer|first=Frederic Charles|year=2016|title=Might Cleaning Up Elections Keep People Away from the Polls? Historical and Comparative Perspectives|journal=International Political Science Review|volume=23|issue=1|pages=69–84 : 76–77|issn=0192-5121|doi=10.1177/0192512102023001004|s2cid=154673192|url=http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/gov2126/files/schaffer_2002_0.pdf#page=9|format=PDF|access-date=May 11, 2018|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224200524/https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/gov2126/files/schaffer_2002_0.pdf#page=9|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some systems use a semi-blank ballot, such as Finland, where the voter must fill in a candidate's given number or letter from a separate ballot, but where there is a clear-cut arrangement with a circle or box with a description of how to vote for a given candidate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How do Finland's elections work? |url=https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/how-do-finlands-elections-work/ |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=www.electoral-reform.org.uk |language=en-GB |quote=a Finnish ballot paper is just a blank piece of folded card with an empty circle printed on the inside. In this circle, you have to write the unique number assigned to your preferred candidate (with the lists of candidates, by party, displayed in each polling booth – each party usually stands multiple candidates).}}</ref> Blank-ballot systems typically require candidates to be nominated in advance.