In the past, the Rhino Times has always gotten a fairly humorous article out of a post-election analysis of the write-in votes for fictional characters such as Sherlock Holmes or Wonder Woman.  So, the Rhino was saddened this year when its request for the list of write-in votes returned only votes that were considered “legitimate.”

It turns out that the Guilford County Board of Elections Department – frankly one of the hardest working departments in the county – decided to not record the sometimes truly humorous names.

Instead, when a write-in vote was cast for “Your Momma” or “My Ass” or whatever, it was only recorded by election staff as “Misc.” – for miscellaneous of course.  While that might be more efficient, it certainly takes all the fun out of seeing the write in votes.

The request for the write-in votes resulted in the following response from the department: “Please find attached the ‘legitimate’ names written in by voters in the November 2025 municipal elections.”

When the Rhino Times asked for the non-legitimate votes, the well came up dry.

Guilford County Elections Department Director Charlie Collicutt told the Rhino Times in an email that recording the funny names was a lot of work under the new system.

“With the move to paper ballots, we are hand transcribing each write-in and it is extremely labor intensive,” Collicutt said. “We had to move to a process of only logging the actual names of real people and miscellaneous for anything else in order to get them timely processed for Canvass.”

He added that he was very much aware it was a downer.

“I know it’s no fun!” he wrote.

While the truly enjoyable write in votes are now locked inside a black box, the “legitimate” write-in votes were interesting too.

Greensboro voters delivered the largest share of write-in action this year, and the At-Large City Council race stood out more than anything else. According to the certified write-in report, that race alone drew 560 write-ins, a number that dwarfs the totals from every other contest in the county.

The clear leader in that group was Carla Franklin who came out with 101 votes.

The rest of the long list included dozens of familiar names and 69 entries listed as “Misc,”

Those, again, ones are the ones that come in every year like Mickey Mouse or The Frito Bandito.

The Greensboro mayor’s race saw far fewer write-ins – but it did end in a precise tie. Jason Hicks and former Councilmember Justin Outling each received five, bringing the total to ten.

In District 1, the records show 11 write-ins, including two for Brenda May and four categorized as “Misc.”

District 2 recorded 36 write-ins, led by Jim Kee with eight and Sharon Hightower with four. The remaining names ranged from local residents to one-vote entries like Donald J. Trump and Nick Fuentes, each of whom appeared exactly once.

District 3 voters submitted 46 write-ins, and 22 of those landed in the “Misc” category. Crystal Black received three, Jake Keys received two and a long list of individuals received one vote each of the remaining votes cast.

District 4 voting ended up with 27 write-ins. Steve Ignac was the top name there with three, followed by Cecile Crawford with two.  The rest were scattered single-vote entries along with seven marked as “Misc.”

District 5 produced 34 write-ins. Twenty-two were listed as “Misc,” and the remaining votes were divided among several people, including two for Crystal Black.

Oak Ridge recorded six write-ins for its council race with no one receiving more than two.

Stokesdale logged nine write-ins across its council and mayor’s race, most of them single-vote entries.

Whitsett recorded two write-ins, one for Harold Friddle and one for James Tickle.

Pleasant Garden saw higher activity. Thirteen write-ins appeared in the council race, led by Nicholas Lewis with four, while the mayor’s race produced 69 write-ins. Tom Sizemore received 36 of those, making Pleasant Garden one of the few places outside Greensboro with a clear write-in favorite.

Jamestown’s filings showed 80 write-ins: Greg Pittman picked up two for council and 72 for mayor, leaving a small handful distributed among other names.

Gibsonville’s mayoral report listed 99 write-ins, with Wayne Sloop taking 98 of those. The aldermen race in Gibsonville added another 19 – led by Ken Pleasants with three.

The Sedgefield Sanitation District had 21 write-ins, including three for Barry Church and two each for Mike Daniel and Don Swaim.

Sedalia reported 30 write-ins for its council race, and Eugene Roddy won that write-in battle with 13.  The others in that race were mostly single-vote entries.

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