Knowing who's naughty and who's nice would be handy in D.C.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Yes, West Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he's running for president.

This jolly old elf, though, doesn't live at the North Pole but near Lake Tahoe, and was known as Thomas O'Connor until 2005, when his resemblance to Father Christmas helped convince him to legally change his name.

Thanks to West Virginia's easy registration rules, Claus is one of 14 write-in presidential candidates registered with the secretary of state's office.

"All they have to do is file a form at least 42 days before the election," said Jason Williams, the office's election division manager. "Santa Claus filed his form and it was notarized, so he's registered along with everyone else."

"Everyone else" in West Virginia includes Keith Russell David, currently an inmate at Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas and Pennsylvania resident Ron Hobbs, whose platform includes requiring all public businesses to have restrooms.

All told, there are 25 write-in candidates for statewide or congressional office in West Virginia this year. Their names won't appear on the official ballot, but votes for them will be tallied, while writing in an unregistered name will mean an uncounted vote.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many write-in candidates in a presidential election," said Kanawha County Circuit Clerk Vera McCormick, whose workers will count write-in ballots on election night by hand.

That kind of joyous plurality isn't available to voters everywhere, though. Most states put a number of hurdles before write-in candidates, ranging from requiring dozens of forms to identifying presidential electors for the candidate.

Claus, a soft-spoken man with an easy laugh who is a monk in a religious order affiliated with the Apostles' Anglican Church, is on the ballot in 16 states so far, mostly the low-hanging fruit in terms of registration requirements.

Six states -- Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, South Dakota, Oklahoma and South Carolina -- don't allow write-in votes in presidential elections. Georgia requires candidates to place a legal notice in a newspaper, while Illinois requires separate declarations in all 102 of its counties.

Those are probably beyond the resources of a man who's taken a vow of poverty and is running to draw attention to the plight of abused and neglected children. But 10 other states are within his grasp if he names a running mate, and so he's begun a suitably rigorous vetting process.

"I actually did an Internet search to see if someone has changed their name to the Tooth Fairy," he said. "Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy would make a great ticket."

Alas for that hypothetical juggernaut of name recognition, Claus couldn't find his ideal running mate. Instead, he's planning a contest, possibly via YouTube, in which he'll invite comedians to audition for the second spot on the ticket.

Claus certainly has the good humor of his Yuletide namesake, but write-in candidates are still seen as oddballs in some political quarters.

The Libertarian Party wasn't able to get its presidential candidate, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr, on West Virginia's ballot. While it mulls over its legal options, the party says it has no interest in joining Santa and the other write-ins.

"That doesn't appeal to any credible candidate," Barr spokesman Mike Ferguson said.

Credible or not, Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, a Web site that monitors laws across the country, thinks a plethora of write-in candidates is a sign of democratic vitality.

"It's a voter rights issue," Winger said. "The government should not be in the business of telling people who they can and cannot vote for."

Some state requirements make sense, Winger said, like obliging write-in candidates to have electors lined up. In presidential elections, after all, voters aren't casting their ballots for the presidential candidates, but for electors chosen by the parties.

That means, if Santa Claus were to sweep to victory in West Virginia on an early wave of Christmas cheer, the win would be null and void without electors.

Claus, though, will be happy to just get people talking about proposals like streamlining the adoption process and improving coordination among state child protection services.

"Being Santa Claus has been an advantage in raising these issues," he said. "That's my primary reason for running in the first place."