Sharpies at the Polls: Not Legally Required, but Procedurally Necessary

By Ethan Schafer. 

On Election Day, voters are focused on how they’re going to mark their ballot, not what they’re going to mark their ballot with. It turns out that the correct writing utensil is incredibly important to ensure smooth operations for your polling location. For those voting in person, felt-tipped pens like Sharpies are the preferred writing utensil. First, vote tabulators cannot read red ink, so red pens are banned from voting locations. Second, black and blue ballpoint pens do not dry quickly enough at the polls; this can cause a problem when a ballot is inserted into the machine. The still wet ink can rub off on the apparatus that reads the votes, eventually affecting its accuracy, which potentially creates delays. Therefore, the best method for in-person votes is a felt-tipped pen like a Sharpie, preferably in black ink. The ink dries by the time the voter reaches the tabulator from the ballot box, avoiding the obscuration that traditional ballpoints cause.

Tabulator failure and delay is legally significant, as only a judge can extend the in-person voting deadline. Under Arizona law, voting locations must be kept open from 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Election Day; only voters who are in line at 7:00 PM can vote after that time period. But judges can extend the deadline if there are irregularities or undue delays at polling locations. For example, there were issues this year in Apache County that caused long lines, delaying voting for some. The Navajo Nation and ASU’s Indian Legal Clinic filed a lawsuit requesting that a judge keep the polls open, which the court granted. The issues in Apache County were not caused by numerous voters using ballpoint pens at polling locations, but the delay demonstrates why Sharpies, which help prevent mishaps, are preferred.

You Don’t Have to Bring Your Own Sharpie to the Polls

With this knowledge in hand, I went to vote on Election Day with a Sharpie in my pocket. After checking in at my local elementary school and waiting in line for my ballot, my name was called by the poll worker. She handed me my ballot and then offered me what looked like a black ballpoint pen to mark it with. I replied, “Oh, I brought my own” and held up my Sharpie.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for ensuring the tabulator’s success drew us into an argument. She explained that the pen she was attempting to hand to me was provided by the county and that I really should use it. I then explained the above information about how Sharpies dry quicker than ballpoint ink and that the tabulator would be better off. She eventually told me to do what I was comfortable with; to avoid holding up the long line to vote and to avoid the appearance of spreading misinformation, I relented and accepted the county’s pen.

I realized in the voting booth that we were arguing over nothing: she handed me a black felt-tipped pen, not the dreaded ballpoint I had feared. Voters are handed felt-tip pens on Election Day because, as the Citizen’s Clean Elections Commission explains, the county knows that felt-tip pens are the best way to mark your ballot. For mail-in ballots that don’t run through the tabulator on location, it does not matter as much. But for same-day voters, the goal is to ensure that the tabulator stays up and running, ensuring that the line keeps moving without lengthy delay.

Maybe the poll worker I argued with considered the infamous “SharpieGate” lawsuits from the 2020 general election, therefore believing that my Sharpie would get my ballot thrown out. The first two lawsuits, both titled Aguilera v. Fontes, were filed by a concerned voter who was given a Sharpie on Election Day. Allegedly, the Sharpie that was provided by Maricopa County bled through her ballot, marking a vote on the backside. The unsubstantiated fear was that the county was throwing the “bled through” ballots out, and therefore her vote went uncounted. After that case was decided against the individual voter, the Trump campaign filed another SharpieGate suit, Donald J. Trump for President v. Hobbs. The campaign alleged the same issue as in Aguilera: that the Sharpie ink would bleed through ballots, mark a bubble on the other side, and cast an uncounted overvote which the county would throw out. The campaign later dropped the lawsuit after discovering that the ballots affected would not have changed the Presidential election’s outcome.

Making Elections Run Smoothly

Cases contesting the processes and outcomes in both the 2022 and 2020 elections are numerous, and even the most minor deviation could give rise to a lawsuit. It may be the case that my statement and actions, while factually correct, smelled of chaotic intent, which the poll worker I was speaking to rightfully wanted to avoid. Based on the poll worker training manual, poll workers must stay calm and neutral at all times, helpfully validating voter concerns. The phrases “felt-tipped pen” and “Sharpie” appear nowhere within this manual; it is perfectly reasonable that this poll worker would not know that she was handing one to me. The poll worker generously allowed me to do what I was comfortable with, but I did not use my own Sharpie.

I accepted the county’s pen as I started to hear murmurings in the line behind me; the last thing I would want is for someone to leave the line or not vote at all because they feared they lacked the proper writing utensil. Again, both I and the poll worker were correct, but our talking past each other had the potential to influence those with impressionable minds. It would be a travesty if my attempt to make things run smoothly changed someone’s decision on whether they were going to vote. 

Voting is a thoughtful act of democracy, a citizen’s duty to make a choice on what values are important to them by deciding which candidates, referendums, and initiatives to support. But most people aren’t thinking about what writing utensil to mark their ballot with on Election Day. Felt-tipped pens, while not required by the law, are necessary to ensure that people can cast their vote and that the line keeps moving.