David Leip has contacted Washington state county election officials to learn the total number of write-ins cast for President in that state in November 2016. The answer is an amazing 105,678 write-in votes.
The failure of Washington state election officials to reveal this information is very unfortunate. It is fortunate that Leip took this action. Thanks to Jim Riley for this information.
Thank you, Leip & Riley! – and you also, Richard. There is nothing wrong with state election officials requiring write-in candidate declarations be submitted but then all write-ins for declared, wrote-ins for legally qualified (meet the constitutional requirements) should and must be counted and reported.
FEC – Federal Elections 2016 , p. 43
WASHINGTON [STATE]
(12 Electoral Votes*)
Clinton, Hillary DEM 1,742,718 52.54%
Trump, Donald J. REP 1,221,747 36.83%
Johnson, Gary LIB 160,879 4.85%
Scattered W 107,805 3.25% <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Stein, Jill GRE 58,417 1.76%
Castle, Darrell L. CON 17,623 0.53%
Kennedy, Alyson SWP 4,307 0.13%
La Riva, Gloria Estela SLP 3,523 0.11%
Total State Votes: 3,317,019
* Washington has 12 Electoral Votes. 8 were cast for Hillary Clinton, 3 were cast for Colin Powell and 1 was cast for Faith Spotted Eagle.
It’s on the state web site. http://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20161108/
See: Total Write-ins for President/Vice President by County
According to that link there were 107,805 write in votes for President.
Is there any way to know who they were for?
Your site has a lot of useful information for myself. I visit regularly
@Jim, DR,
I can resolve most of the difference between Dave Leip’s number and that belatedly reported by the state. Dave Leip was able to isolate 2,104 write-in votes for Evan McMullin, and does not report those as “write-in” votes.
This leaves a mismatch for two counties.
Ferry reported 43 write-ins, including 25 for Bernie Sanders, 10 for Evan McMullin, 4 for Ben Carson, and 4 “Uncertified”.
The SOS and apparently the FEC show 86 write-ins for Ferry. Since 86 is twice 43, it appears that the SOS has double-counted. An alternative explanation is that Ferry in its official report reported some write-in votes as undervotes. Dave Leip also has precinct results totaling 43 write-in votes.
Garfield reported 0 write-ins. This is non-credible. Dave Leip shows 20 write-ins in Garfield. I do not know his source. He also documents 20 write-ins by precinct.
I think 107,782 write-in votes is the most authoritative. The SOS and FEC are not a credible.
@PY,
Dave Leip shows McMullin results for 10 counties. I do not know his source for six of those: Grays Harbor, Kitsap, Klickitat, Pacific, Stevens, or Yakima. They appear consistent around 20% of the write-in vote, with weaker support on the coast, and smaller counties.
In Okanogan there were 465 write-in votes: 176 for Bernie Sanders, including 164 with no running mate; 4 with Tim Kaine; 5 with Elizabeth Warren; and 3 with Tulsi Gabbard.
Evan McMullin had 75 write-in votes: 48 with no running mate, 16 with Mindy Finn; and 11 with Nathan Johnson.
Others included Ben Carson 15, John Kasich 16, Paul Ryan 14, 24 for 7 named individuals, 56 for Misc, and 89 “Write-Ins”
In Ferry it was Sanders 25, McMullin 10, 4 Carson, 4 Uncertified
Lincoln showed 38 votes for McMullen, 2 for Maturen, and 1 for Keniston (all 3 were official write-in candidates) and 107 for unresolved.
@PY, Douglas did an Alabama:
358 write-in votes total.
268 multiple votes for 19 individual political figures:
Bernie Sanders 84
Evan McMullin 78 (62 for “Evan”, 16 for “Evam”)
John Kasich 23 (18 for Kasich, 4 for Kasic, 1 for Kasien)
Paul Ryan 18
Ben Carson 11
Mike Pence 9
John McCain 8 (including 1 with Michael Pence as running mate)
Jeb Bush 5
Mitt Romney 5
Ted Cruz 4
Marco Rubio 4
Joe Biden 3
Rand Paul 3
Condoleeza Rice 3
Ammon Bundy 2
Newt Gingrich 2
Lindsey Graham 2
Mike Huckabee 2 (includes 1 Hucklebee)
Tim Kaine 2
2 votes for one unknown individual
41 single votes for a variety of actual persons, fictional characters, unknown persons, etc.
43 uncertified
McMullin was the only declared write-in candidate that I saw. There were 61 in Washington, so I might have missed some. Sorry, Darryl Perry, Douglas County apparently does not love you.