Charlottesville Write-Ins

The other results from Tuesday's election will be widely available. We know that George Allen and Jim Webb have a razor-thin difference between them as of now (10:38 p.m.) and that all three ballot questions have passed by comfortable margins.

Of course, Charlottesville is an anomaly. Jim Webb took Charlottesville with more than 77 percent of the vote, while Al Weed beat Virgil Goode in the City of Charlottesville with more than 74 percent.

On Ballot Question No. 1, the Marshall/Newman Amendment, Charlottesville voted "no" by more than 77 percent. In two precincts, Venable and Alumni Hall, the "no" vote was more than 81 percent. Even in the largely African-American precinct, Tonsler, more than 78 percent of voters said "no" to Marshall/Newman.

Voters in Charlottesville took this election quite seriously. Only 38 write-in votes were cast -- 20 in the Senate race and 18 in the House of Representatives race.

Among those who received write-in votes for the U.S. Senate in Charlottesville were Libertarian Party activist James W. Lark (6 votes), former City Councilor Rob Schilling (2 votes), and -- with one vote each -- 2000 and 2004 presidential candidate Ralph Nader, current City Councilor Dave Norris, incumbent Congressman Virgil Goode, basketball legend Michael Air Jordan, one-time City Council candidate Thomas Hill, as well as "None of the Above" and "Fair Tax Plan." (Two names I do not recognize, John Harrison and Robert Hardie, also won write-in votes.)

In the Fifth Congressional District race, no write-in candidate received more than one vote, but Robert Hardie, James Lark, and "Fair Tax Plan" made repeat appearances. Other write-in votes went to libertarian philosopher Loren Lomasky, Grant Hill, Malcolm Randolph, Christopher Grossman, former City Councilor Meredith Richards, "Tomm Albro" (presumably former City Councilor Thomas Albro), and fictional characters Daffy Duck and Marty McFly. God was also on the list, as was this odd entrant, Frozen Peas. The single words "None," "Blank," and "Juanes" also received votes.

The name A D Copeland received one vote for the U.S. House, as did the variant, ADCOPELAND, for the U.S. Senate.

As another indication of the gravity by which Charlottesville voters viewed the election this year, besides the write-in votes, only 126 voters chose to skip the Senate race and only 155 chose to skip the House race. Moreover, there were no write-in votes cast by the 773 absentee voters.