Town clerk clarifies voting rules after Oliver suspends campaign

North Brookfield's town clerk announced Oct. 19 that lieutenant governor candidate Shawn Oliver's name will stay on the ballot even though he has announced he is "suspending" his campaign. The clerk's office said it had received questions from the media about what the move means for voters.

According to the announcement, it is too late to remove Oliver's name, so he remains on the ballot as part of the "Minogue and Oliver" ticket. If elected, Oliver can decide on his own whether to take the oath of office.

The clerk's office laid out how several voting scenarios will be handled. Voters who have already returned a ballot that has been accepted cannot get a new one. If a voter crosses out "Oliver" and writes in another name while the oval for "Minogue and Oliver" remains filled in, the tabulator will still count it for that ticket, but poll workers doing a manual write-in review should instead tally it as blank, since the voter's intent was not to vote for "Minogue and Oliver," adding one blank and subtracting one vote from that ticket.

If a voter writes in "Minogue and" a different running mate, that vote must be tallied as blank, because state law does not allow a write-in for someone already listed on the ballot, and Minogue is listed. If a voter fills in the oval for "Minogue and Oliver" and also writes in a different name for lieutenant governor, that counts as an overvote and must be tallied as blank.

The clerk's office also noted that because governor and lieutenant governor run as a team, a valid write-in vote for lieutenant governor must include two names, not just one candidate.

Source: Town of North Brookfield announcement, October 19, 2026.