In most states in this great country of ours, write-in ballots are only counted if no candidates filed as a write-in candidate. That's right (or write). Not only do you have to file a ton of paperwork with signatures and such to get your name on the ballot, but you even have to file paperwork to get on the ballot as a write-in.
The positive aspect of this restrictiveness is that it limits those on the ballot to only the moderately loony (i.e. Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, Alan Keyes, Sarah Palin ...) and not the truly hard-core insane candidates.
The bad part is that it means we miss out on finding out about hilarious write-in votes like the "Lizard People" one from Minnesota I've become obsessed with.
Fortunately, the state of Alabama released the write-in votes for all offices in that state.
Below the fold, a look at those write-ins.
Of course, there were the national politicians, being written in everywhere around the country.
Hillary Clinton (PUMA power!!!!!!!!) and R0n P4v1 (Feel the rEVOLution!!!!) received by far the most of these votes, primarily for president.
Of course, other national politicians, both present and past, were written in: Rudy Giuliani (9/11), Fred Thompson (Round of Applause), Mitt Romney and various other presidential candidates.
One person wrote in Robert Casey Jr. for president (I assume an anti-abortion rights Democrat); Mike Pence also got a write-in vote
Kay Hagan got a write-in vote for the Senate in Alabama.
And of course boring-ass write-ins like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck had their fair share of votes.
And several Alabama-related people got a helluva lot of write-in votes; there were of course the politicians, including many votes for Don Siegelman. But the most prominent politician to be written is was ex-judge Roy "Ten Commandments" Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court Justice who had the ginormous stone Ten Commandments brought into the courthouse.
Also, there were a heckuva lot of votes for University of Alabama Nick Saban; given his $4 million a year salary, any of those jobs would be a massive pay cut.
Rick & Bubba (Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey), a duo of Christian, family-safe morning radio types good old Southern boys received a large number of write-in votes as well.
Now for the good stuff (spelling is as is) [in addition to the ones in the Title]
Fictional Characters: Bilbo Baggins, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Bob Builder, Miss Piggy, Thom Yorke, Casper, S. Friday, Ayn Rand, John Galt, Peter Griffin
Interesting real people: Charles Manson, Lucifer Lavey, Kieth Olberman, Tina Fey (better than Sarah Palin), Bobby W. Bone, Larry Flint, Mary Matlin, Bill O'Reilly (they fucking wrote him in live!), Larry Page (Google him if you don't know who he is), B.B. King, Jello Biafra, Al D'Amato (in Alabama? Really?), Billy Ray Cyrus, Bill Shatner, Malcom X, Oral Roberts, Jefferson Davis, Dale Earnhardt, Pat Paulson
Entities: Jack Daniels, Thunder
The AbsurdNo Dean, Thunder, Cthulhu, any clown, untrained monkey, Mickey Moose (I assume Sarah Palin will shoot them), Colom Powell, Tomcat, Cowboy, Smitty, Runing Sot?, Hug Marx, Cobra Commander
One of the best: Ron Paul/Sarah Falin for president.