✉️ To contact 🗳️ To add a candidate

to write in

8 6.3

Add the name of a person not on the ballot as your vote

phrasal verb
/ˈraɪt ɪn/

: escribir en la papeleta

I am still running free, and I am going to write in Ron Paul.

Examples

Many of us in the world would write in Ron Paul if we could vote.

Blog text (2)
Though in the last presidential election, I wrote in "None of the Above."

Blog text (27)
As for me, I plan on writing in a candidate for president of the United States.

Blog text (14)
Just so you all know, this is true, I wrote in Ryan Nicodemus.
There was confusion about whether or not you had to write in both Chuck Baldwin and Darrel Castle.

Blog text (8)
In the election, I decided to write in my favorite candidate since he wasn't on the ballot.
Many voters chose to write in their preferred candidates during the final tally.
It's important to write in someone you believe in if your candidate isn't listed.

Antonyms

to abstain

Formal

16 5.6

To choose not to vote in a meeting or election

Surface Forms

write in infinitive

writing in present participle

writes in third person singular

wrote in past

written in past participle

Morphology

write + in

The meaning involves literally writing a name "in" to the ballot, so part of the sense is compositional and can be inferred from 'write' + 'in' (to write something into a form or list). However, the specific electoral/procedural sense of adding an unlisted candidate is specialized and not fully predictable for a B1 learner without exposure to voting contexts, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Write in comes from voters who write a name in the blank space on a ballot. Picture using a pen to put a name into the list, so it means 'to add a candidate by writing their name on the ballot'.