BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - As the dust settles on Tuesday's Democrat Mayoral Primary, which saw newcomer India Walton defeat four term incumbent Byron Brown, there is increased talk of a last ditch effort to keep the Mayor as a contender in November.
It would involve a write-in campaign for Brown. His name would not appear
on the ballot. It would have to be written in by voters.
"It's not easy, but it's not impossible either," said Republican strategist Carl Calabrese.
One of the things that has made it easier, according to Calabrese, is that courts are much more lenient on spelling than they were previously. "It used to be, if you spelled Brown with an "e" on the end, the ballot was gone, or if you spelled Byron with an "i" instead of a "y", that would be gone." Ballots are counted today even with minor misspellings.
Calabrese also noted that Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski lost a primary in 2010 for her Senate seat. She ran statewide as a write-in and won.
"I've got to believe that the Brown campaign is thinking about this," said Calabrese. "Given his name recognition, his record, support and campaign treasury they may want to take a shot at this."
WBEN asked three Common Council members in Buffalo about a write-in campaign for Mayor Brown. Ulysses Wingo, of the Masten District, while supporting India Walton during the Primary campaign, thinks the Mayor should move forward with a write-in effort. "It should happen, because
we don't know how Ms. Walton will do under pressure and how she'll respond if challenged." Wingo thinks city voters deserve to see a debate between Brown and Walton.
"I know it's an uphill battle to do something like that. That's his choice," said University District Council Member Rasheed Wyatt. He said the council will adapt to whoever is in office. "We have a city to run. We still have challenges to deal with and this council has shown that we're going to do what we need to do for the residents of the city of Buffalo," said Wyatt.
Council President Darius Pridgen is not taking a position on a write-in campaign by Mayor Brown. "That's something for the Mayor to decide.
At the end of the day, India ran her campaign. She won the Democratic Primary and now it's up to the Mayor decide," said Pridgen.
As of early Thursday afternoon, Mayor Brown has not conceded, or decided to mount a write-in campaign.