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It's official, Pres. Obama takes Michigan, Gary Johnson wins 'write-in' battle

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The election is over, so now we're just going through the motions.

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers certified the election results today.

MPRN's Rick Pluta reports that Michigan's electors will formally cast  their votes at the state Capitol on December 17th.

President Obama bested Republican hopeful Gov. Mitt Romney by 449,313 votes.

As for the write-ins, Gary Johnson ruled the day.

Official vote totals:

  • Barack Obama (Dem) 2,564,569
  • Mitt Romney (Rep) 2,115,256
  • Jill Stein (Green) 21,897
  • Virgil Goode Jr. (US Taxpayers) 16,119
  • Ross Anderson (Natural Law) 5,147
  • Gary Johnson (write-in) 7,774
  • Stewart Alexander (write-in) 89
  • Jerry White (write-in) 68
  • Tom Hoefling (write-in) 42

I'm sure there must have been other write-ins. I wonder if there is a threshold that must be met for the write-ins to be reported.

Let me know if YOU know!

Update... like... ten minutes later....

Well, guess who knows? Rick Pluta, of course!

Pluta points out that state election officials didn't want to waste time reporting on write-in candidates who were there on a lark. Like when someone writes in their brother-in-law, for instance.

So there's this rule:

An individual who wishes to seek nomination or election to a federal, state, county, city, township, village or school office with write-in votes is required to file a “Declaration of Intent” with the appropriate election official by 4:00 p.m. on the second Friday preceding the election.

So Tom from accounting would have to put in a little effort to see his official vote count.

Mark Brush was the station's Digital Media Director. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. He was 49 years old.
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