Ballot Access News blog has a series of posts about write-in votes as they are coming in. Here is what they have reported so far:
Virginia has tallied these write-ins for president: Alan Keyes 38, Brian Moore 13.
Michigan has tallied the votes for the two declared write-in presidential candidates. Alan Keyes received 129, and Brian Moore received 41.
Kansas has tallied the votes for declared write-in presidential candidates. Cynthia McKinney received 35; Alan Keyes received 31.
Kentucky has tabulated the write-in votes for declared presidential write-in candidates. Alan Keyes received 27, and Brian Moore 7. Cynthia McKinney didn’t file as a declared write-in candidate in Kentucky.
Montana has tallied the write-ins for presidential write-in candidates. Chuck Baldwin received 143, and Cynthia McKinney received 23. Brian Moore did not file for write-in status in Montana, nor did Alan Keyes. Charles Jay did file, but he did not receive any recorded votes.
In the 20 Alabama counties that reported write-ins, Ron Paul and Hillary Clinton were the clear winners. There seem to be 279 write-ins for Hillary Clinton for president, and 273 write-ins for Ron Paul for president. Among presidential candidates who were actually running (yet who weren’t on the Alabama ballot), the write-ins are: Alan Keyes 14, Cynthia McKinney 6, Brian Moore 4, Ted Weill 1 (Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, and Chuck Baldwin were on the ballot).
The North Carolina write-ins are 1,510 for Nader, 158 for McKinney, and 24 for Brian Moore.
This year, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Maine, and the District of Columbia, are all refusing to count valid write-in votes cast for presidential candidates who filed declarations of candidacy.
Special thanks to Michael Jose for getting the write-in votes for the declared write-in candidates in Maine. The only three declared write-ins in Maine were Bob Barr (251 write-ins), Chuck Baldwin (177 write-ins) and Jonathan Allen (3 write-ins). Maine totals these three numbers on its official election returns web page, yet refuses to break them down in those official returns. Yet Maine does know how many each of the three candidates got, and does send that information to the National Archives. Michael Jose discovered this “hidden” tabulation.
UPDATE
The Vermont Secretary of State’s office says that Cynthia McKinney received 66 write-in votes for president. Vermont does not require presidential write-in candidates to file a declaration of candidacy, but in the past the office has not been willing to tally these write-ins. Instead that office has simply invited any member of the public who wants to know, to visit the office and examine the results from the town clerks. However, this year, the office did its own tally for McKinney. Since the office did its own tally, it is “official” and these votes will be included in publications that make a record of the national vote totals, such as Congressional Quarterly’s America Votes.
UPDATE 2
On December 4, New York State released its official election returns. For the declared write-in presidential candidates, the state totals are: Chuck Baldwin 614, Alan Keyes 35, Jerome S. White (Socialist Equality Party presidential candidate, who was not on the ballot in any state) 18, Brian Moore 10.
11 responses so far ↓
1 ericdondero // Dec 4, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Okay, so is the final, final Bob Barr vote total 520,386 as Winger is reporting on top, or is it 520,637, with the added in Maine write-in votes?
Winger has already told me that the number does include the 200 or so Guam votes. So, I’m guessing that 520,637 number is the complete and total final.
2 paulie cannoli // Dec 4, 2008 at 1:50 pm
No, there are still states counting write-in votes, absentee/provisional votes, etc.
3 paulie cannoli // Dec 4, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I also recall there was a blog post about the write-in vote for some California counties at BAN, yet it seems to have disappeared – I went back 11 pages and did a CTRL+F for “write”.
4 Arthur DiBianca // Dec 4, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Bigger numbers are reported at the US Election Atlas. This atlas has pretty complete numbers all the way down to the county level, and I recommend it as a resource.
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/
5 paulie cannoli // Dec 4, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Some of the numbers at US election atlas are smaller, for example the Alabama write-ins.
I did notice that Ron Paul is reported as having over 5,000 write-in votes just in California at that site, but I did not check to see how many counties that was for.
6 paulie cannoli // Dec 4, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Post updated (VT)
7 paulie cannoli // Dec 4, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Updated again. NY
8 Thomas M. Sipos // Dec 4, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Of course, Eric, as you know, it’s vote percentages that count, and not raw vote totals.
This is because the U.S. population keeps growing. McCain got more raw votes, I’m sure, than did FDR. But so what?
By vote percentages, Barr/Root is the LP’s fourth most successful, behind Ed Clark (1980), Ron Paul (1988), Harry Browne (1996).
9 Peter Orvetti // Dec 4, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Any word on D.C. yet?
10 paulie cannoli // Dec 4, 2008 at 9:53 pm
“This year, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Maine, and the District of Columbia, are all refusing to count valid write-in votes cast for presidential candidates who filed declarations of candidacy.”
11 paulie cannoli // Dec 5, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Tired of updating the main entry. If anyone else wants to, its yours.
http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/12/05/illinois-presidential-write-ins/
The only four presidential candidates who filed for write-in status in Illinois this year are candidates who were not on the ballot in any state. Illinois has very cumbersome procedures for filing as a declared write-in for any statewide office. Unlike any other state, Illinois provides that candidates must file with each county. Consequently, presidential candidates who weren’t on the ballot in Illinois, but who were on the ballot in certain other states, simply skipped Illinois. Therefore, there are no Illinois write-in results for Alan Keyes, or Brian Moore, or Roger Calero, or Charles Jay, or Gloria La Riva (La Riva didn’t file for write-in status in any state).
The four who did file are Frank Moore, Ronald G. Hobbs, Donald K. Allen, and (in one county only), a Ron Paul slate. Frank Moore got two in Cook County and one in Lake County. Allen got one in Peoria County, one in DuPage County, and one in Cook County. Hobbs got 3 in Cook County and one in Marion County. The Ron Paul elector slate got one in Pope County. Probably the people who filed it, only filed in that one small county.
It would be beneficial if Illinois would change its write-in filing law, to provide that a write-in candidate for statewide office only needs to file with the State Board of Elections. It is absurd to force such candidates to file in each county in which they wish their write-ins to be counted. Illinois has 102 counties.
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