Gen Z voters are adding ridiculous write-in candidates on their ballots — and then sharing them as memes
They’re casting doubt.
As young voters turn up to cast their ballots for the next president, they’re also fueling a new trend in true Gen Z fashion.
The TikTok savvy generation has been writing in meme candidates on their ballots and boasting about it online.
Content creator Braden Boyko wrote in the Twitch streamer Dream on his ballot, posting a photo of it on X and joking, “Go vote, this is the most important election in our lifetime.”
On TikTok, another voter wrote the name “Tanka Jahari,” a character from “Impractical Jokers” that has recently gone viral in a resurfaced clip, on their ballot, while others wrote down Taylor Swift.
The joke write-ins — reminiscent of the thousands of people who cast votes for Kanye West in 2020, or the more than 100 votes for Harambe the gorilla in 2016 — prompted a fierce backlash on social media, as viewers called it “sad,” “dumb” and “moronic.”
“Please don’t encourage people to do this,” urged one person on TikTok.
“Just the biggest ick,” chided another.
“This is irresponsible. That’s not what people mean when they say go vote. This is a really important election and your vote means a lot,” implored someone else.
“What a waste,” commented one user.
Bragging the write-in candidate carries more consequences than just controversy.
In some states, taking photos of your ballot is not permitted, and voters who fail to comply with local laws could face fines or other penalties, according to USA Today.
In New York, for example, photos of blank ballots are permitted, but the law forbids voters from taking pictures of completed ballots. In California, however, ballot selfies are allowed, per Vox.
Gen Z is fueling a number of election day trends, such as vowing to “cancel out” loved ones’ ballots by casting votes for the opposite candidate, amid the tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
A recent survey from NBC News showed Harris’ lead among Gen Z voters, with about half of the 2,119 young people polled voicing their support for the Democratic candidate. According to the data, only one-third showed support for Trump.
While Joe Rogan’s podcast interview with Trump earned 20 million views in less than a day, the Harris campaign has leveraged TikTok to appeal to young voters, per the Financial Times. Experts report that, after the vice president announced her candidacy for president, there was a surge in voter registration.
“So much of that excitement came from the online buzz that immediately happened on TikTok,” Jessica Siles, the deputy press secretary of the political advocacy organization Voters of Tomorrow, told the outlet.
