Guilford County voters have completely lost their sense of humor.
At least, that appears to be the case based on the near total lack of humor those voters displayed when given the opportunity to write in votes in races in the Tuesday, Nov. 5 election. The Guilford County Board of Elections has now compiled the votes that were typed out in various races, and, unlike in past years, almost all the voters who wrote in votes took the matter seriously.
In the past, whenever Guilford County voters have had a chance to write in names on the ballots, they’ve had a field day and voted for everything from Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, to sports figures such as Coach K or Michael Jordan, to religious figures like the Pope.
The November 2019 election wasn’t a large one like 2020 will be, but that doesn’t explain the stodgy seriousness with which voters approached the ballot.
In High Point, almost all the write-in votes went to Joshua Fox Brown, a write-in candidate for mayor who in October lost a primary bid to win a High Point City Council seat. The lists of write-in votes from this election are dominated by versions of Brown’s name, some spelled correctly, some not – Joshua Fox, Josh Brown, Fox Brown, Joshus Fox, etc.
Some other write-in voters in the High Point Mayor’s race were just as serious: For instance, some people cast votes for former Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis, who lost in the mayoral primary.
While, this year, nearly everyone was deadly serious with their write-in votes, a few people did seem to have cast votes for themselves, such as Elizabeth, Sigourney, Veronica and Austin.
One voter voted for 60THDIST, and another voter wrote “Nobody” in protest as his or her choice. Yet another voter typed in Jesus.
High Point University President Nido Qubein is popular in High Point and he pulled in a vote for mayor, and, in Summerfield, “End the Fi” got a vote, which no doubt was a vote to end the widespread political bickering in that small town.
So, while there was a little bit of whimsy in the votes cast in this last election, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Kermit the Frog will have some serious campaigning to do before 2020 if they are to recover the lofty write-in status those characters have enjoyed for years.
Slight correction, Joshua “Fox” Brown was a Candidate for High Point City Council At-Large who failed to secure one of the four spots on the November ballot and chose to continue running as a Write-in Candidate. However, it is accurate that I did also get multiple votes for Mayor and across several Wards for City Council beyond the one where I reside, in addition to votes I earned towards the office I was actually running for.