Nov 14, 2016 5 min read

What do Sweet Meteor of Death, Pope Francis, the late gorilla Harambe and South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham have in common?

They all received write-in votes in the race for president in Washington County.

Nine members of the canvass board took their oaths of office Monday and began the task of tabulating write-in votes and examining provisional ballots to submit to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the official tabulation from last week’s election.

There were an inordinately large number of write-in votes for president – 760. In contrast, there were 469 write-ins for president in 2008, when U.S. Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and John McCain of Arizona were on the ballot, and just 228 cast in 2012 when Obama was campaigning for his second term against Republican Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

Two candidates vanquished during the Democratic and Republican nomination process have loyalists among the ranks. Respectively, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders garnered 134 votes in the general election, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich had 114.

The name of Evan McMullin of Provo, Utah, a former member of the Central Intelligence Agency and chief policy director for Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, appeared on the ballot in 11 states, but Pennsylvania wasn’t one of them. McMullin received 162 votes in Washington County.

Former Republican candidates McCain, Romney, Paul Ryan, Graham, Dr. Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush also received votes.

Former Minnesota Sen. and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who died in 1978, received a write-in vote, as did the superhero comedy film “Deadpool.”

Democratic candidates from elections past, Vice President Al Gore, former President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Joe Biden, found support, and Texas billionaire Ross Perot, Reform Party candidate in 1992 and 1996, had a vote spelled “RossPero Ross Pero.”

“My Dog” received a master’s vote in Canton Township’s second precinct, and one voter chose Boaty McBoatface, social media’s choice during the search to name a British polar research vessel.

Entertainment figures Keith Richards, Myron Cope, Johnny Depp and Pittsburgh Dad, television characters Sheldon Cooper of “The Big Bang Theory” and Reptar, an animated tyrannosaurus Rex of “Rugrats” fame, the perennial Mickey Mouse, Popeye the Sailor, Stooge Curly Howard and singer Willie Nelson were all listed. One Charleroi voter typed in “None of Them,” followed by 14 exclamation points. Other votes of that ilk were None of the Above, No Confidence, Somebody Else and Deez Nutz.

Voters with a religious bent typed in Pope Francis, God, Jesus Christ and True Catholic candidate. Santa Claus also got a vote.

Unofficial results for Washington County showed 58,941 votes for Donald Trump and 34,436 for Hillary Clinton. Libertarian Gary Johnson had 2,553, Jill Stein of the Green Party had 708 and Darrell L. Castle of the Constitution Party had 307 votes.

Trump and Clinton also received write-in votes for president, about which Washington County Elections Director Larry Spahr had a word of caution: When a candidate’s name appears on the ballot, a write-in vote for that person for the same office is considered an “over vote,” and the write-in will not be counted. Turnout in Washington County was on the verge of 75 percent, with approximately 102,000 ballots cast. In the 2004 presidential race between incumbent Republican George W. Bush and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, turnout in the county was just 64 percent, with 88,841 ballots.

One-hundred eighty-nine military absentee ballots are to be tabulated today.

A little-known provision in the law governing civilian absentee ballots requires that votes that were mailed to the elections office and arrived there after the Friday afternoon deadline – on this year, Nov. 4 – but before the close of business Monday, Nov. 7, will be tabulated in the presidential race only.

Voters in some Washington County precincts faced long lines last Tuesday, but Wes Parry, assistant elections director for Washington County, said “thank you to all electors of Washington County for their patience and understanding this election. We got through it, which was good.”

In Greene County, write-ins in the presidential contest accounted for 0.7 percent of the 15,224 votes.

Trump ran stronger in Greene County with 69 percent of the vote, or 10,394, to Clinton’s 27 percent, 4,157 votes, according to unofficial results. There were just 103 write-ins.

“We didn’t have very many write-ins at all,” said Greene County Elections Director Tina Kiger. “I was kind of surprised. I guess people knew what they wanted. We have not gone through our write-ins yet.”

Greene County Commission Chairman Blair Zimmerman swore in canvass board members on Veterans Day. In Greene County, election office workers canvass unofficial votes to prepare the official certification submitted to the state.

The counting of votes continues nationwide. The Associated Press reported Monday that with 99 percent of votes counted, Clinton’s popular vote total stands at 61,039,676 to Trump’s 60,371,193. Third-party and other candidates received 6,266,057 votes. The Electoral College results continue to show the opposite, with Trump’s 290 to Clinton’s 228. No third-party candidates won any Electoral College votes.