In many states, a new record was set this year for write-in presidential candidates. Probably if all states would count all their presidential write-ins, new records would have been set in virtually all states that allow write-ins.
Bernie Sanders set records in three states that counted his write-ins: in California he got 79,341; the previous high was 58,412 for Eugene McCarthy in 1976. In New Hampshire, Sanders got 4,493; the previous high was Michael Badnarik’s 341 in 2004. In Vermont, Sanders received 18,183; the previous record had 594 in 2012 for Jill Stein.
Rhode Island write-ins are not available yet, but when they are, Sanders probably will have set a new record there also.
Evan McMullin set these records, with the previous record-holder noted in parentheses:
Arizona 17,449 (Ralph Nader 2,062 in 1996)
Delaware 706 (Ralph Nader 156 in 1996)
Illinois 11,655 (John Schmitz 2,471 in 1972)
Kansas 6,520 (Ralph Nader 914 in 1996)
Maine 1,887 (Bob Barr 251 in 2008)
Maryland 9,630 (Ralph Nader 2,606 in 1996)
Michigan 8,177 (Gary Johnson 7,774 in 2012)
Missouri 7,071 (John Schmitz 3,428 in 1972)
Montana 2,297 (Eugene McCarthy 460 in 1976)
Ohio 12,574 (Dick Gregory 372 in 1968)
Pennsylvania 6,472 (Ralph Nader 3,086 in 1996)
Tennessee 11,991 (David Cobb 33 in 2004)
Texas 42,366 (Ralph Nader 9,153 in 2004)
Wisconsin 11,855 (Michael Peroutka 869 in 2004)
Probably McMullin also set new write-in records in Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, but none of those places tallied his write-ins. He missed the write-in filing deadline in Florida, Indiana, and North Carolina. The other states in this paragraph allow write-ins but won’t tally them.
Jill Stein set a new write-in record in North Carolina: 12,105. The previous record was set by Ralph Nader, with 2,108 in 1996. Nader probably got more write-ins than that in 2000 but he missed the write-in filing deadline that year.
