If the U.S. Supreme Court does rule that states can bar him from being
listed on the ballot as a printed name, what happens if enough of his
supporters decided to list him as as a write-in name on their ballot?
Would the ballot be considered "spoilt" and discarded, and therefore
that person has wasted their ballot, meaning they haven't even cast a
vote for their 2nd choice candidate?
If a candidate is legally determined to be ineligible to hold a public office based upon Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, then write-in votes cast for that candidate in the general election would not be counted. The ballots of people making that write-in vote would be wasted.
Delegates For Candidates Disqualified After A Primary or Caucus Is Held
If a candidate in a Presidential primary or caucus, wins delegates to a party national convention, and that candidate is only later disqualified, however, those delegates would then become uncommitted delegates who could shift their support to a new candidate.
Something similar routinely happens in the primary and caucus season of Presidential elections, when people vote for candidates who drop out of the race before the time to select of nominee for their political party arrives.
Footnote Regarding Democratic Write-In Ballots In New Hamsphire
On the other hand, incumbent President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has been excluded from the Democratic party primary ballot in the New Hampshire primary being held today on January 23, 2024, despite being the only serious candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination (twenty-one vanity candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination will appear on the New Hampshire Democratic primary ballot), and despite the fact that Biden is constitutionally qualified to serve as President, as he is currently doing, is undisputed.
Polling indicates that a supermajority will be writing in Joe Biden as their choice on that ballot.
The way this state of affairs came to be is complicated and highlights the Byzantine nature of the process by which the U.S. chooses its President.
The Washington Post explains what is going on there:
New Hampshire is holding the first-in-the-nation primary elections on
Tuesday, for both Democrats and Republicans. But the Democratic
primary won’t have President Biden on the ballot. Voters will see the
names of his 21 primary challengers instead — and space to write in a
name.
But even if one of his primary challengers wins in New Hampshire, it
won’t change the electoral outcome of the Democratic nomination
process. Barring a catastrophe, Biden will likely be Democrats’
nominee. Here’s what’s going on with New Hampshire.
The parties set their own primary calendars, but for decades
Republicans and Democrats have followed roughly the same schedule:
Iowa holds the first caucus, then New Hampshire holds the first
primary. Republicans are still doing that this year.
But Democrats dramatically changed up their primary schedule for 2024.
The party chose South Carolina, where there are far more Black voters
than in mostly-White Iowa or New Hampshire. New Hampshire was supposed
to go second alongside Nevada, then Michigan. Iowa was pushed way
forward to March....
The state is
holding a primary anyway on Tuesday, for both Democrats and
Republicans. New Hampshire’s election officials note that a
decades-old state law requires it to be the first primary in the
nation. (Iowa doesn’t count, because it’s a caucus.)
New Hampshire Democrats argued behind the scenes they didn’t care if
they got penalized for breaking the rules. It’s a pretty low-stakes
primary, given there’s no real question about who will be the nominee....
The fight between the Democratic National Committee and New Hampshire
over the calendar quickly got contentious. The DNC decided to penalize
New Hampshire by taking away its roughly two dozen delegates. The
primary there is “meaningless,” the DNC declared this month, adding:
"…[P]residential candidates should take all steps possible not to
participate.”...
The Biden campaign long ago decided to follow the party’s guidance and
not compete there. “While the president wishes to participate in the
Primary, he is obligated as a Democratic candidate for President to
comply [with party rules],”...
Beyond New Hampshire, Biden’s 21 primary challengers are hardly a
factor, but one of them might win this primary. But the win will be
symbolic, since the state has been deprived of its delegates....
If Biden
wins the New Hampshire primary, it would be through a write-in
campaign being led by grassroots Democrats. The Biden campaign is not
involved in this, because he can’t compete in the state. But a group
of New Hampshire Democratic Party leaders have launched a campaign to
urge voters to write in his name, and it’s possible he could win that
way. Still, write-in campaigns are historically difficult, and require
a lot of voter education and outreach....
New Hampshire is also an open primary, meaning voters not registered
with a party can choose which primary ballot they’d like. It’s
actually pretty normal in the state for independents who lean left to
vote in the Republican primary to affect that outcome, for example.
