Write-In Votes Up Three Times More Than in 2012 Election in Maryland

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- The election may be over but the vote count continues as election boards around the state tally write-in ballots.

According to the Maryland Board of Elections, three times as many voters wrote in candidates than they did in 2012. The jump in write-ins is often an indicator of how dissatisfied voters are with their party nominees.

But both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had low approval ratings, and in Maryland and across the nation, voters wrote in their own candidates.

"There was a large cross section of the population who just didn't like either candidate and some people take the ability to write-in candidates as a protest vote," said Mileah Kromer of Goucher Hughes Field Politics.

Hillary Clinton was a clear choice in Maryland, but the State Board of Elections says there were 32,000 write-ins for president. Some voters wrote in the names of cartoon characters and others went so far as write obscenities, a sure sign of voter dissatisfaction. Of course those votes don't count, and given how races can come down to the wire consider that vote may be too valuable to waste.

"Elections have consequences, that your vote matters. Take a long hard look at the ballot box when you go in to vote. Make a decision how you want the direction of the country - perhaps the person at the top of the ballot isn't the person you love the most, but sometimes it is important to decide the preferences between those two candidates," said Kromer.

In Maryland if you voted for anyone not registered as a candidate your vote did not count.

The Board of Elections lumps unregistered names into a category called *other*, but doesn't count them individually, so you won't know how many votes any one name received.

The vote count for registered write-ins has to be completed by November 18th.

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