Devine v. Wonderlich (1978) 268 N.W.2d 620 268 N.W.2d 620 (Cite as: 268 N.W.2d 620) Page 9 him. [17] Ballots which were rejected by the district court include five cast for "Dan Devine", one for "Dan P. Devine", one for "Danny Devine", one for "D. Devine", and one for "Daniel P. Devine". The court rejected eight ballots cast for "James", "James P." and "Jim" Devine. Also rejected were two votes for "Russell Devine", two for "P. Devine", one each for "R. P. Devine", "Louis P. Devine", "Francis Levine", "Frances D. Levine" and "V. Devine". Although we suspect these voters intended to vote for Francis P. Devine, we are not persuaded their intent to do so was adequately shown. The variations in given name are not similar to the candidate's true name nor did it appear he was known by any of those names. Write-ins were rejected in similar circumstances in Bartlett v. McIntire, 108 Me. 161, 79 A. 525 (1911), O'Brien v. Board of Election Comm'rs., 257 Mass. 332, 153 N.E. 553 (1926), Murray v. Floyd, 216 Minn. 69, 11 N.W.2d 780 (1943), Application of Jeffrey, 198 N.Y.S.2d 966 (1960), and Keenan v. Briden, 45 R.I. 119, 119 A. 138 (1922). We hold the district court was right in its conclusions as to the ballots containing name variations except for the one additional ballot which should have been counted for Devine. IV. Miscellaneous irregularities. The remaining 51 contested ballots involve various alleged deficiencies. Fortyone of these votes are claimed by Devine and ten by Wonderlich. The district court rejected all but four of the ballots. It counted those four for Devine. However, we believe it was mistaken in rejecting most of the ballots for both parties. The court relied on s 49.68, The Code, is making a ballot containing erasures or crossed out words invalid. However, as explained in division I, this statute does not establish standards for determining the validity of ballots. Instead it lists precautionary instructions which are to be given to voters. Fullarton v. McCaffrey, 177 Iowa 64, 68, 158 N.W. 506, 507 (1916). It does not provide a basis for declaring ballots invalid. [18][19] The primary test of validity is whether the voter's intent is sufficiently shown. Brandenburg v. Hurst, 289 Ky. 155, 158 S.W.2d 420 (1942). Extraneous erasures, crossed out words or other markings do not void a ballot unless they have been placed on it as identifying marks. See Opinion of the Justices, 369 A.2d 233 (Me.1977); In re Keogh-Dwyer, 85 N.J.Super. 188, 204 A.2d 351 (1964), rev'd on other grounds, 45 N.J. 117, 211 A.2d 778 (1965). Under these principles we hold the court should have counted 19 additional votes for Devine, was right in counting the four votes which it did for him, and should have counted nine disputed votes for Wonderlich. [20] On 13 of these ballots Devine's name was written in twice with one of the names crossed out. On one the name *629 "Francis" was crossed out and the full name correctly written in. On another a "blot" preceded the name "Devine" with "Francis" written under the "blot". On another the name was written three times and crossed out twice. In each of these 16 situations it is obvious the voters were confused regarding where to write in Devine's name. We believe this confusion caused the voters to cross out and rewrite the name, and no evidence exists of an intent to place identifying marks on these ballots. [21] The same is true of three other Devine ballots which the district court rejected. On one an erasure existed in the box next to the office of state senator. On another an erasure existed in the box next to the name of Wonderlich. On the third the election officials had given the voter a ballot marked "sample ballot" in red ink. We hold these votes should also have been counted for Devine. The four votes counted for Devine which Wonderlich argues should not have been counted all contain analogous markings and were properly counted. [22] Nine of the Wonderlich ballots come within the same principle. However, the remaining disputed Wonderlich ballot contains a vote for an additional person for the supervisor position. Because this made the vote ambiguous, the district court was right in rejecting it. [23] The remaining 18 ballots, all claimed by Devine, contain other irregularities. On eight of them, Devine's name was put under Wonderlich's name in the Republican © 2006 Thomson/West. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works. 207