When the appointed incumbent for the Lane County Circuit Court Position 7 mistakenly failed to file paperwork to appear on the ballot, he set in motion a lively and time-consuming write-in contest.
Incumbent Jay McAlpin ultimately won the race, but it took the Lane County Elections Department nearly two weeks to add up the results.
The Register-Guard says that election workers compiled precinct-by-precinct alphabetical lists of names written in.
Some voters took the contest in jest, writing in names ranging from cartoon character Homer Simpson to abolitionist Harriet Tubman to "Ann Heiser-Bush."
Other voters wrote in dozens of local attorneys.
Voters also appeared to write in their own names — or those of friends, foes, co-workers and neighbors — to create a roster of thousands of one-vote candidates.
