Chris Christie can’t catch a break. He led the packed Republican field in visits to New Hampshire during the presidential primary, but finished a disappointing sixth in the contest and won no delegates. Now, results reveal the New Jersey governor won the lowest number of presidential write-in votes here on Election Day – behind Vermin Supreme and Mitt Romney.
Of the more than 736,000 New Hampshire residents who voted in the election, 12,000 people chose to write in candidates for president. The Secretary of State’s office released a list this week of 15 Republican, Democrats and third-party candidates who picked up significant vote totals. Dissatisfied with the major party candidates, some voters turned to alternative choices.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders earned the most write-in votes – almost 4,500 in total. New Hampshire helped boost Sanders’s presidential bid this year after he defeated Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary by double digits. He later endorsed the former secretary of state, but still, some supporters were reluctant to back her.
Clinton was recently declared the winner of New Hampshire’s four electoral votes, narrowly edging out Donald Trump by roughly 1,400 votes.
Republicans made up most of the write-in candidates.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich won the second-highest number of write-in votes in New Hampshire with 1,365. He was followed by Evan McMullin, a former CIA agent who jumped into the presidential race in August as an anti-Trump candidate. McMullin earned a little more than 1,000 write-in votes.
Several Republican candidates who ran against, and lost to, Trump this cycle were also among those who earned write-in votes. Jeb Bush earned 230 votes, Ben Carson won 83 votes, Ted Cruz drew 129 votes, Marco Rubio pulled 136 votes and Rand or Ron Paul together took 98 votes. Chris Christie won 23 votes.
Some Republican presidential contenders, like Carly Fiorina, didn’t get any write-in votes, according to the secretary of state tally. In fact, not one woman was listed as one of the 15 candidates that drew a significant number of write-in votes. So-called “scatter” candidates, that could include Mickey Mouse, won 2,411 votes.
Some other familiar names showed up. Two-time Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won 540 votes. Democratic Vice President Joe Biden drew 55 votes. Perennial candidate Vermin Supreme won almost 60 votes.
Vice President-elect, Mike Pence, won almost 940 votes. At least one came from U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who said she would write in Pence after denouncing Trump’s campaign last month.
(Allie Morris can be reached at amorris@cmonitor.com or 369-3307.)